Theft of $15, a 10-2 Verdict, Sent Man to Prison for 35 Years

Roderick Vidau turned down a plea deal in 2005 because he never expected a jury of 12 of his peers would convict him of committing armed robbery.

He was right: Only 10 jurors found him guilty, but in Louisiana that was enough to send him to prison for 35 years. He allegedly stole $15.

“I was devastated,” Vidau, now 43, told Bloomberg Law in an interview from Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, La.

His best chance at freedom, or at least a new trial, hinges on Edwards v. Vannoy, a case for which the U.S. Supreme Court ...