Rodney Roberts, a native of Newark, NJ, served 18 years in prison after being coerced into pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit. While wrongfully incarcerated, Rodney studied law and in 2014, as a pro se litigant, and with the assistance of counsel and support from the Innocence Project, he was exonerated via DNA evidence. Since then, Rodney has been on the frontlines advocating for a more just criminal legal system. In 2022, Rodney joined the Innocence Project as the inaugural re-entry coach, supporting exonerees and their families and lending his experience to advance advocacy campaigns.