Innocent man freed from prison after Brooklyn DA’s office’s 40th exoneration in 10 years

By Jennifer Bisram

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    NEW YORK (WCBS, WLNY) — An innocent man is free after spending years in prison for a murder the Brooklyn district attorney says he didn’t commit.

Keith Roberts, 67, had his name cleared Thursday. He spent eight years in prison for the 1986 murder of 33-year old Pierre Sanon outside of a social club in East Flatbush.

The DA’s office says his case was flawed from the beginning with unreliable testimony, overlooked evidence and a rushed testimony.

“In this case, it was a one witness identification made by a witness who’s not credible,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said.

CBS News New York had the only camera there when Roberts and his family met with Gonzalez before the judge’s official ruling.

“I feel good. I’m happy to be out,” Roberts said.

“Since 1986, he’s declared his innocence … Today, we know that a miscarriage of justice had been done against him and the system failed,” Gonzalez said.

Roberts says he never gave up.

“Prayer. I prayed. I prayed. I prayed. If my knees could talk. I prayed,” Roberts said.

CBS News New York reached out to the NYPD for comment regarding this case, but did not hear back. Police have not made additional arrests in the case.

The Brooklyn DA’s office says this is its 40th exoneration since its Conviction Review Unit was created in 2014 – the highest in New York City and among the highest in the country since 1989.

“We know in the ’90s there were over 2,000 homicides in New York City. Brooklyn had between 800 and 900 homicides,” Gonzalez said.

“They didn’t have time to investigate,” said Ron Kuby, a criminal defense and civil rights attorney.

Kuby has had over a dozen wrongful conviction cases of serious crimes, including murder, overturned.

“Far fewer innocent people are being convicted these days because there are so many more tools to solve crime and to exonerate the innocent,” he said.

Gonzalez says his office is currently reviewing an additional 60 wrongful conviction applications.

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