In 1996, Rodney Roberts was arrested for assault. After being taken to the police station in Newark, New Jersey, Rodney believed he would be fingerprinted and released.

In 1996, Rodney Roberts was arrested for assault. After being taken to the police station in Newark, New Jersey, Rodney believed he would be fingerprinted and released. However, after providing police with his fingerprints Rodney was informed that he was being charged with kidnapping and sexual assault. A seventeen-year-old girl had selected his photo from a line-up. Despite being “nowhere near the scene of the crime,” Rodney’s attorneys begged him to accept an offer and make a guilty plea. Rodney’s attorneys told him that if he did so he would be out of prison within two years, but if he opted to proceed to trial, the judge would likely give him a life sentence. On July 16, 1996, Rodney pled guilty to kidnapping and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Following his release from prison in 2004, Rodney was committed to a treatment facility for violent sexual predators. Rodney maintained his innocence until 2014, when a rape kit provided DNA evidence clearing him of any wrongdoing. The process by which criminal convictions come about through guilty pleas in exchange for sentencing considerations carries with it the almost inevitable result that those who refuse a plea bargain are punished for exercising the right to trial: How do you feel about this?