SPRINGFIELD, Missouri (KY3) – A Springfield man serving a 20-year prison sentence for financial crimes against an elderly woman is now fighting for his freedom.
Howard Roberts, 81, was found guilty in 2018. This spring, however, a judge overturned his conviction. Roberts, however, remains behind bars.
“Someone that age, who is frail and has been in prison for several years now, he really wants out. And I think the judge saw that too,” said Jonathan Sternberg, Roberts’ attorney.
Sternberg is the man behind the fight for Roberts’ freedom.
“If you commit fraud against an elderly person in Missouri, it upgrades the offense to a much more serious crime and you could theoretically be sent to prison for life,” the attorney said.
Investigators accused him of tricking a woman into investing money in a nonexistent company and then spending the money on himself. Sternberg claims it was a real company.
“This was a nutritional supplement manufacturer that originally marketed to horses,” Sternberg said. “Mr. Roberts and his people wanted the product to be suitable for human consumption as well.”
Robert’s lawyer presented the evidence at a court hearing in November. He says it is the evidence that was not presented to the judge at the original trial.
“The attorney admitted that he had not investigated these business practices of Mr. Roberts and therefore did not present any evidence,” Sternberg said.
In a court filing earlier this year, retired Greene County Judge David Jones ordered Roberts’ release from the state prison in Licking. But Sternberg says the Attorney General’s Office is fighting to keep Roberts behind bars. He says the judge has now found the Missouri Department of Corrections in contempt of court for failing to release Roberts.
“He should get a retrial. The state obviously doesn’t agree with that. So the case will now go to the Missouri Court of Appeals to determine whether the judge was right,” Roberts’ attorney said.
KY3 asked Sternberg how something like this could happen in the court system.
“People make mistakes,” Sternberg said. “These things happen. What happened to Mr. Roberts is actually much more common: that an attorney is found to be inadequate counsel and the conviction is overturned.”
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