New Jersey Criminal Lawyer BlogOn March 14, 2014, Rodney Roberts was released from a state facility for sex offenders after spending 17 years in prison and at a treatment center. In 1996, he was convicted of rape, although he maintained his innocence. As a result of new DNA evidence, attorney Michael Pastacaldi won Roberts’ appeal, and his unjustly imprisoned client was able to gain his freedom.
“It really did just come down to getting that DNA kit,” Pastacaldi said. “If we didn’t have that he could very well still be in there.”
“I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders,” Roberts said. “It was so great to sit in a courtroom and be vindicated.”