Edward Roman is a drug dealer and addict living in the Los Angeles area. For five months in 1999 he attended a rehab clinic in North Hollywood, but it appears the treatment was unsuccessful. While in rehab he met Sarah Landy in group therapy where Landy talked freely about her sister's murder. They fell into a relationship of mutual convenience and enabling. Roman suggested that they get married, and Landy agreed because she thought he might protect her. Roman's strategy was to get Landy to support him by working as a prostitute. An unofficial wedding ceremony was held on the beach, but shortly afterwards Landy got smart and they separated.
In 2010 he was living with another prostitute, Sonia Reyes, in the kind of relationship that he had set up with Landy. Roman heard about the retrial of Jason Jessup and on 2 March 2010 he contacted Clive Royce's law office to volunteer as a witness. He spoke with investigator Karen Revelle who promised Roman a hotel room and other compensation in return for his testimony. In return Roman was to testify that Landy had confessed to him that her step-father had actually killed her sister and then forced the family to cover it up. This made him the key defense witness.
On 8 April 2010 when Roman took the stand to testify, he noticed that Sonia Reyes was in the gallery. Believing that she would testify in some manner to discredit him, he decided to tell the truth rather than the lie that he had been coached to tell. This imploded the defense case, and the jury saw that the entire defense was based on falsehoods.