Brooklyn, NY – The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office announced plans to vacate the conviction of Keith Roberts, who was imprisoned for eight years for a 1986 murder based on testimony from a single and unreliable witness.
Following a reinvestigation by the Conviction Review Unit (CRU), it was determined the original case was flawed, primarily due to an uncredible eyewitness account, a plausible alibi defense, and a rushed police investigation. Roberts is the 40th person to be exonerated by the CRU since it was established in 2014.
District Attorney Eric Gonzalez emphasized the importance of the CRU in rectifying past injustices. Gonzalez noted that Roberts, along with others, fell victim to a system that wrongfully ignored his innocence. Gonzalez also expressed the unit’s commitment to their work, which has made them a national model, marking Roberts’ exoneration as a significant milestone.
Roberts, now 67, is set to appear in court on Thursday at 2:15 p.m. before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D’Emic.
