Video: Why Rodney Roberts Pleaded Guilty to a Crime He Did Not Commit

01.30.17 By Innocence Staff

Photo by Mattedesign.

Photo by Mattedesign.

Rodney Roberts was arrested in 1996 in Newark, New Jersey, after an altercation with a friend. After several days in custody, he found himself charged with the kidnapping and rape of a 17-year-old girl.

Roberts insisted police had the wrong man. His court appointed attorney advised him to plead guilty to the crime or risk a life sentence.

Roberts had a good job and had recently moved with his young son into a new apartment. Hoping to get back to his son as soon as possible, Roberts pleaded guilty to the crime in exchange for a seven-year sentence. He would end up spending 18 years in custody before DNA evidence excluded him as a perpetrator and he was exonerated and released in 2014.

Watch Rodney explain why he chose to plead guilty to a crime he didn’t commit for our Guilty Plea campaign.

 

Questions for Rodney? Ask them below and he’ll respond on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 1 p.m. ET via Facebook Live. Tune in.

Rodney is accepting donations through GoFundMe here.

Learn more about Rodney’s case here.

Leave a Reply

Thank you for visiting us. You can learn more about how we consider cases here. Please avoid sharing any personal information in the comments below and join us in making this a hate-speech free and safe space for everyone.

This field is required.
This field is required.
This field is required.

Jason Veneri April 24, 2017 at 1:07 pm Reply   

This was an awesome and helpful article. Thank you very much for sharing..

We've helped free more than 250 innocent people from prison. Support our work to strengthen and advance the innocence movement.