In California, Maurice Hastings spent 38 years in prison for a 1983 murder he always denied committing. From 2000 to 2021, Hastings tried to get evidence at the scene tested for DNA; when it was finally tested, it matched another man, Kenneth Packnett. When Packnett was arrested for car theft three weeks after the 1983 murder, police found items matching those taken from the woman Hastings was convicted of killing, but Packnett was never investigated for the murder. In 2023, a judge declared Hastings factually innocent, and in August, he received $25 million as compensation for the wrongful conviction.
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