Man Freed From N.J. Jail Wants $72M In Damages

What is 17 years spent in prison on faulty charges worth?

According to Newark resident Rodney Roberts, the answer is $72 million.

That’s the amount that Roberts is asking for in a federal lawsuit recently filed against the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, the City of Newark, the Newark Police Department and a group of law enforcement officials.

Roberts – who was cleared of wrongdoing for a 1996 kidnapping conviction and rape accusation after spending more than 17 years in jail – is now seeking “justice,” according to NJ.com.

“Winning the lawsuit will give him the public recognition that he was wronged,” Roberts’ attorney Mirel Fisch told NJ.com.

Here’s how Roberts’ conviction and eventual release occurred, according to The National Registry of Exonerations:

“On May 8, 1996, a 17-year-old girl called police in Newark to report that she had been attacked while walking on the street, dragged into a parking lot and raped.

“On May 25, 1996, 29-year-old Rodney Roberts was arrested by Newark Police for an unrelated robbery. Police said they put a photograph of Roberts, who had a prior conviction for conspiracy to commit rape, into a photographic lineup and showed it to the rape victim. Police said the rape victim identified Roberts as her attacker and put her initials on the back of Roberts’ photograph.

“Roberts was then charged with kidnapping and sexual assault. On July 16, 1996, Roberts pled guilty to kidnapping in Essex County Superior Court and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He also pled guilty to the unrelated robbery charge for a prison term to be served concurrently with the kidnapping sentence. The prosecution then dismissed the sexual assault charge.”

However, in 2001, Roberts – acting as his own lawyer - attempted to withdraw his guilty plea to the kidnapping charge, the National Registry of Exonerations stated.

His motion was dismissed, setting off more than a decade of legal appeals and motions during which he repeatedly maintained his innocence.

In November of 2013, a judge ordered Roberts’ guilty plea and conviction for the kidnapping charge to be vacated.

In February of 2014, the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office dismissed the charge.

And one month later – after more than 17 years in prison – the state released Roberts from custody.

Read the full case history here.

WHY HE WAS RELEASED

During his imprisonment, Roberts asserted that there were several inconsistencies in the evidence used to convict him, Courthouse News Service reported:

• The perpetrator was allegedly not clearly visible to the victim since he walked behind her the whole time and raped her in a poorly lit area after it had been raining.
• After an identification interview with the victim, a detective allegedly falsely reported that the victim identified Roberts in a photo.
• Law enforcement investigators allegedly didn’t compare the swab to the DNA in the rape evidence kit to Roberts’ own DNA.

File photo: Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark