The Brooklyn DA’s Conviction Review Unit exonerated its 40th defendant, a murder suspect so desperate to avoid returning to prison for a crime he did not commit that he accepted a plea deal that kept him out of jail.
Keith Roberts, 67, spent eight years in prison for murder before accepting a plea deal in 1995 to a lower charge so he could stay out of jail after his original conviction was reversed on appeal.
On the eve of Roberts’ second trial, he pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge, which resulted in a maximum sentence of seven years, which was less than the time he had already served.
The decision kept Roberts from the risk of another trial that could have landed him back in jail.
But a Conviction Review Unit investigation years later determined that Roberts never should have gone to prison in the first place, and that he was the victim of unreliable testimony, overlooked evidence and a rushed investigation.
“Let’s be clear. This should have never happened,” said Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez. “It was a tragedy of justice, and I am grateful that today, my office, many years later, has been able to give him back his good name. It was important for his children. It was incredibly meaningful for them today to hear the evidence in court.”
The flawed conviction stemmed from a fatal shooting outside an East Flatbush social club in 1986. Cops said a gunman shot Pierre Sanon, 33, after a dispute inside the Holiday Social Club spilled outside.
A witness led cops to a “yellow house” to which Roberts allegedly fled — which, in fact, was where Roberts lived. Roberts told the officers who questioned him that he was at another party that night. However, he agreed to go to a local police precinct and appear in a lineup. The witness — the only one who placed Roberts at the scene — picked him out of the lineup, and Roberts was arrested.
The case was closed just 12 hours after Sanon was killed.
Roberts was later convicted and sentenced to 18 years to life in prison.
An appellate court later ruled that Roberts’ alibi was “plausible,” and that the eyewitness testimony was “exaggerated and incongruent.”
Even though the court overturned his conviction, in the eyes of the law he was still guilty of something. Roberts said he wanted to clear his name. He appealed to the Conviction Review Unit for help.
“I promised my mother before she died that I would continue to fight to establish my innocence and honor her fight and sacrifice to free me and clear my name,” he said in a statement.
As his three adult children watched from the gallery, Roberts offered a subdued thank you to the court, his supportive family and to the prosecutors, particularly Emily Harper at the Conviction Review Unit.
“I thank the courts for correcting a mistake that was made,” he said.
Roberts’ lawyer, Leonard Noisette, said Roberts was looking forward to moving on with his life without the stain of a criminal conviction.
“Mr. Roberts is looking to living his life now, again, without the albatross of a wrongful conviction hanging around his neck and staining his reputation.” Noisette said. “This should never have happened. This is justice delayed. This is justice long ovedue.”
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