Current:Home > Contact-usPhiladelphia man won’t be retried in shooting that sent him to prison for 12 years at 17-LoTradeCoin
Philadelphia man won’t be retried in shooting that sent him to prison for 12 years at 17
View Date:2024-12-23 21:10:18
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia man won’t be retried in a 2011 shooting that injured four people, including a 6-year-old girl, and sent him to prison for more than a decade at age 17, a prosecutor announced Monday.
A judge closed the case against C.J. Rice, now 30, months after a federal judge found the defense lawyer at his 2013 trial deficient and the evidence “slender.” Rice had been serving a 30- to 60-year prison term until he was released amid the federal court ruling late last year.
The case was formally dismissed Monday after District Attorney Larry Krasner decided not to retry it. While he said most of the 45 exonerations his office has championed have been more clearcut cases of innocence, he found a new look at the evidence in Rice’s case more nuanced.
“The case falls within that 15% or so (of exoneration cases) where we believe it’s murky,” Krasner said at a press conference where he was joined by defense lawyers who pushed back on that view.
The reversal hinged on a few key points. A surgeon testified that Rice could not have been the person seen running from the scene because Rice had been seriously injured in a shooting three weeks earlier that fractured his pelvis.
Rice was shot on Sept. 3, 2011, in what he described as a case of mistaken identity. His trial lawyer, now deceased, agreed to stipulate that one of the Sept. 25, 2011, shooting victims was a potential suspect in Rice’s shooting — giving prosecutors a motive — even though there was little evidence of that.
“The evidence of (his) guilt was slender. Only one of the four victims was able to identify him and she admitted that the last time she had seen (him) was at least four years before the shooting. No weapon was ever recovered,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Carol Sandra Moore Wells wrote in her October report.
Rice left prison in December, but did not attend Monday’s court hearing. His lawyers said during a news conference that the case echoes many wrongful convictions that involve faulty eyewitness identification, ineffective counsel and overreach by prosecutors.
Nilam Sanghvi, legal director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, said the crime should have been thoroughly investigated before trial, not years later.
“It takes courage to face the wrongs of the past,” she said, while adding “we can never really right them because we can’t restore the years lost to wrongful conviction — here, over a decade of C.J.’s life.”
veryGood! (6491)
Related
- FC Cincinnati player Marco Angulo dies at 22 after injuries from October crash
- Fans of This Hydrating Face Mask Include Me, Sydney Sweeney, and the Shoppers Who Buy 1 Every 12 Seconds
- China Evergrande is ordered to liquidate, with over $300 billion in debt. Here’s what that means.
- High-ranking Orthodox prelate warns against spread of antisemitism by religious officials
- Taylor Swift's Dad Scott Swift Photobombs Couples Pic With Travis Kelce
- A Texas 2nd grader saw people experiencing homelessness. She used her allowance to help.
- Biden and senators on verge of striking immigration deal aimed at clamping down on illegal border crossings
- Zebras, camels, pony graze Indiana highway after being rescued from semi-truck fire: Watch
- California voters reject proposed ban on forced prison labor in any form
- Teenager awaiting trial in 2020 homicide who fled outside hospital is captured in Philadelphia
Ranking
- Why was Jalen Ramsey traded? Dolphins CB facing former team on 'Monday Night Football'
- China Evergrande is ordered to liquidate, with over $300 billion in debt. Here’s what that means.
- Tom Selleck reveals lasting 'Friends' memory in tribute to 'most talented' Matthew Perry
- Ted Koppel on his longtime friend Charles Osgood
- The Fate of Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager's Today Fourth Hour Revealed
- Chiefs' path back to Super Bowl stage looked much different than past runs
- Inter Miami vs. Al-Hilal live updates: How to watch Messi in Saudi Arabia
- More highlights from the 2024 Sundance Film Festival
Recommendation
-
Don't Miss This Sweet Moment Between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Dads at the Kansas City Chiefs Game
-
70 Facts About Oprah Winfrey That Are Almost as Iconic as the Mogul Herself
-
Watch this miracle stray cat beat cancer after finding a loving home
-
Japan PM Kishida is fighting a party corruption scandal. Here’s a look at what it’s about
-
Gold is suddenly not so glittery after Trump’s White House victory
-
A Texas 2nd grader saw people experiencing homelessness. She used her allowance to help.
-
Scott Disick Shares Video of Penelope Disick Recreating Viral Saltburn Dance
-
Get $504 Worth of Anti-Aging Skincare for $88 and Ditch Wrinkles— Dr. Dennis Gross, EltaMD, Obaji & More