When Horace Roberts Jr. was freed after 20 years in prison following his conviction for the murder of a Jurupa Valley woman he did not commit, he emerged into a changed world. Among the innovations occurring while Roberts was behind bars from 1998 to 2018 was the improvement of DNA technology that allows investigators to identify criminal suspects more precisely and from smaller sample sizes.
That technology sprung Roberts from his “lion’s den” and pointed authorities to three men who were convicted of killing Terry Cheek, Roberts’ former mistress, and who are scheduled to be imprisoned in January. Roberts testified against the men who not only let Roberts take the fall for the crime but also framed him. “I was relieved,” Roberts, 66, said in a recent interview about his post-prison life from his home in South Carolina.
“I was just glad that they were found guilty of what they did.” While Roberts now says “I feel good about where I am” and an $11 million payout in 2021 from Riverside County to settle his wrongful-incarceration lawsuit has eased the transition, the return to a society that had moved on without him was initially difficult. Roberts would wake up at night and wonder whether he was still sleeping in a cell.
“When I was in prison you had to think one way, and that was always survival. I had to put on this brave face and just stand my ground. When I got out, it’s different.
It’s kind of hard to let my guard down and show that fear,” he sa.
