A California court has vacated the conviction of Maurice Hastings for a 1983 murder. DNA testing of semen collected during an oral swab of the victim, whose body was found in the trunk of her car, did not match Hastings. It did match that of another man who was convicted of an armed kidnapping in which he forced the victim to perform oral sex on him and placed her in the trunk of her car. That man died in prison in 2020. Hastings had asked for DNA testing on the oral swab in 2000, but the district attorney refused.

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Charles Oliver is a contributing editor at Reason.

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