Rodney Roberts, who spent 17 years confined on a kidnapping conviction that was later dismissed, filed a federal lawsuit against the Newark Police Department, Essex County Prosecutor's Office and other offices that were involved in the investigation and the 1996 prosecution, for $72 million in damages.
According to the lawsuit, Roberts claims the Newark police investigators mishandled and later withheld DNA evidence that would of excluded him as a suspect in the sexual assault.
Roberts also cites that the public defenders who represented him provided him with faulty legal advice on the kidnapping charge.
I'm 1996, Roberts was accused of sexually assault in Newark, charges to which he claims he pleaded guilty the lesser kidnapping charge only after his attorney instructed him to, despite being innocent.
After being convicted, Roberts spent seven years in state prison and was then to a center in Avenel for violent sex offenders.
The kidnapping conviction was later dismissed after DNA evidence from a previously missing rape kit was found in 2013 and re-tested, according to lawsuit. Roberts was ruled out as a suspect and released from civil confident in March 2014.
According to Roberts' attorneys, his client hopes to get compensated for the years that he lost and the hardships he is now going through as he continues to reintegrate into society.