A man is found innocent in the US after spending 38 years in prison for a murder he did not commit

MADRID, 5 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Los Angeles County Superior Court has found Maurice Hastings not guilty after spending 38 years in prison after being convicted in 1983 of a robbery with murder and sexual assault that he did not commit.

"It means a lot. I am grateful for the sentence and for the apologies. Everything has been wonderful today," Hastings declared at a press conference after hearing the sentence. "I'm ready to move on with my life. Right now I'm happy," he said, according to CNN.

Hastings is now 69 years old and was released from prison in October after a DNA test identified another person. Witnesses had supported his alibi and there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene, yet he was sentenced to life in prison, the Los Angeles Innocence Project said in a statement.

The sample of a cotton swab obtained shortly after the attack was finally examined in June 2022, the California State University, which houses the Los Angeles Innocence Project, explained in a statement. The DNA ruled out that Hastings was responsible and pointed to Kenneth Packnett, who died in 2020 while serving a sentence for kidnapping and rape.

Assistant District Attorney Martha Carrillo conveyed to Hasting "an apology that we owed him for a long time" on behalf of the District Attorney's Office. "I'm sorry. I'm very sorry for the injustice, for the enormous injustice that the Prosecutor's Office and the penal system have perpetrated against you. There is a lot to learn from all this (...). I know that it is not enough to say 'I'm sorry' for 38 years in prison and I am humbly aware", he pointed out.

Carrillo has also apologized for not responding earlier to Hastings' requests to perform a DNA test on the sample. The first petition dates back to 2000 and claimed that evidence "would prove beyond a doubt that I am not the person involved."