In 1996, 16-year-old Rojai Fentress was arrested for, and ultimately wrongfully convicted of, murder. Rojai has served 24 years of a 53-year sentence for a crime he did not commit.

Rojai has always maintained his innocence. Charged with the murder of a white man shot and killed in a Richmond, Virginia apartment complex during a drug deal gone wrong, Rojai turned down plea offer after plea offer — the lowest offer for five years — telling the prosecutor in his case that he was not going to take a plea. He was innocent. Rojai was never interrogated, and his home was never searched. Yet when his case finally went to trial, he was convicted in a trial that lasted just under an hour. 

In 2014, another man confessed to the murder. The actual murderer has repeatedly admitted to committing the murder, including under oath, to a Special Agent for the Virginia Department of Corrections, and to multiple news reporters.

At trial, the only evidence against Rojai was the testimony of one eyewitness giving a cross-racial identification and one Richmond, Virginia police officer. The Innocence Project at UVA School of Law, which now represents Rojai, has since uncovered new evidence revealing that both the eyewitness and the officer lied under oath.

Rojai has had a pardon petition pending before Governor Ralph Northam since 2017. It’s time to bring Rojai home. Please sign our petition to urge Governor Northam to pardon Rojai Fentress, an innocent man.