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A Philadelphia man will not be retried in a 2011 capturing that injured 4 folks, together with a 6-year-old woman, and despatched him to jail for greater than a decade at age 17, a prosecutor introduced Monday.
A decide closed the case in opposition to C.J. Rice, now 30, months after a federal decide discovered the protection lawyer at his 2013 trial poor and the proof “slender.” Rice had been serving a 30- to 60-year jail time period till he was launched amid the federal court docket ruling late final 12 months.
The case was formally dismissed Monday after District Legal professional Larry Krasner determined to not retry it. Whereas he mentioned many of the 45 exonerations his workplace has championed have been extra clearcut instances of innocence, he discovered a brand new take a look at the proof in Rice’s case extra nuanced.
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“The case falls inside that 15% or so (of exoneration instances) the place we imagine it is murky,” Krasner mentioned at a press convention the place he was joined by protection legal professionals who pushed again on that view.
Philadelphia District Legal professional Larry Krasner speaks with members of the media throughout a information convention in Philadelphia, Oct. 13, 2022. (AP Picture/Matt Rourke, File)
The reversal hinged on a number of key factors. A surgeon testified that Rice couldn’t have been the individual seen operating from the scene as a result of Rice had been critically injured in a capturing three weeks earlier that fractured his pelvis.
Rice was shot on Sept. 3, 2011, in what he described as a case of mistaken identification. His trial lawyer, now deceased, agreed to stipulate that one of many Sept. 25, 2011, capturing victims was a possible suspect in Rice’s capturing — giving prosecutors a motive — although there was little proof of that.
“The proof of (his) guilt was slender. Solely one of many 4 victims was capable of determine him and she or he admitted that the final time she had seen (him) was no less than 4 years earlier than the capturing. No weapon was ever recovered,” U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Carol Sandra Moore Wells wrote in her October report.
Rice left jail in December, however didn’t attend Monday’s court docket listening to. His legal professionals mentioned throughout a information convention that the case echoes many wrongful convictions that contain defective eyewitness identification, ineffective counsel and overreach by prosecutors.
Nilam Sanghvi, authorized director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Venture, mentioned the crime ought to have been completely investigated earlier than trial, not years later.
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“It takes braveness to face the wrongs of the previous,” she mentioned, whereas including “we are able to by no means actually proper them as a result of we are able to’t restore the years misplaced to wrongful conviction — right here, over a decade of C.J.’s life.”
Philadelphia DA Krasner declines to retry decade-old mass capturing case
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