NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office on Thursday moved to vacate the conviction of a man in a 1986 murder who served eight years before a successful appeal led to a retrial, during which he pleaded guilty to avoid returning to prison, prosecutors said.
Keith Roberts, 67, was slated to appear in court at 2:15 p.m. on Thursday, and will be the 40th person to be exonerated by the Brooklyn district attorney’s Conviction Review Unit since its 2014 creation, following a thorough reinvestigation .
“This exoneration underscores the critical importance of our Conviction Review Unit and its mission to right the wrongs of the past,” D.A. Eric Gonzalez said. “Mr. Roberts, like many others, found himself trapped by a system that failed to recognize his innocence, and nearly 20 years ago, he pleaded guilty just to stay out of prison.”
Early in the morning on Sept. 21, 1986, 33-year-old Pierre Sanon was shot and killed outside the Holiday Social Club in East Flatbush after he fought with someone inside, prosecutors said.
The only identifying witness had told police that after the gunman fired, he was told by two accomplices to go to the “yellow house” down the block, later identified as Roberts’s residence. During an interview, Roberts told police that he was at another party that night and voluntarily went to the precinct for a line-up, where he was identified and arrested.
Prosecutors said that the case was closed just 12 hours after the homicide, and the investigation was conducted by a police officer, not a detective, who was on her first murder case.
In an interview during the CRU reinvestigation, the officer recalled that in that day, once someone was identified, he was arrested, and no further investigation continued. She said “it was all about numbers, clearing cases.”
The eyewitness who identified Roberts testified, as did several witnesses attesting to his alibi claim, but he was still convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 18 years to life in prison. He proclaimed his innocence at sentencing and the family said they believed the eyewitness, Jerome, was actually responsible for the killing.
In September 1994, the Appellate Division decided that Roberts’s alibi defense was “plausible,” the eyewitness testimony “exaggerated and incongruent” and also considered a late disclosure of another witness statement who claimed the shooter left the scene in a car.
These factors led the court to order a new trial and Roberts was released. Just before his second trial in September 1995, Roberts agreed to plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter in exchange for a sentence of two and a third to seven years, meaning he could stay out of prison.
At the time, the defense asked for an Alford plea, which would allow him to maintain innocence, but the prosecutor refused.
“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,” Roberts said when he approached the CRU about his case, stating that his guilty plea was only to avoid possible conviction.
The CRU established that the eyewitness was likely the person who fought the victim inside the club earlier that night, prosecutors said.
“Our reinvestigation revealed the deep flaws in the original case—unreliable testimony, overlooked evidence, and a rushed investigation,” Gonzalez said. “Today, we are able to restore his dignity and good name and affirm his innocence.”
Currently, the CRU has about 60 open investigations.
Local News
Comments / 0