6-Year-Old Girl Figure Central in Philadelphia DA’s Decision to Decline Retrial in Decade-Old Shooting Case

Philadelphia DA Drops Decade-Old Shooting Case Against C.J. Rice After Flaws in Evidence Surface

C.J. Rice Cleared as Philadelphia DA Declines Retrial in 2011 Shooting Incident

In Philadelphia, District Attorney Larry Krasner decided not to retry a shooting case from 2011 involving C.J. Rice, according to the report of Fox News. Rice was accused of shooting and injuring four people including a little girl but a federal judge found problems with the evidence and his defense lawyer’s work. After serving more than a decade in prison, Rice was released last year and now the case against him has been formally dropped. This decision came after a careful look at the evidence by Krasner’s team who found it wasn’t clear whether Rice was guilty or not.

The decision was based on a few important points. One was that a doctor said Rice couldn’t have been the person running away from the shooting because he had been hurt in another shooting before. There were doubts about the motive presented during the trial as it wasn’t backed up by strong evidence. Despite being accused by one victim there wasn’t much proof linking Rice to the crime.

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Philadelphia DA Drops Decade-Old Shooting Case Against C.J. Rice After Flaws in Evidence Surface. )(PHOTO: Cumberlink)

Advocates Highlight Systemic Flaws Amid C.J. Rice’s Exoneration in 2011 Shooting Case

Advocates for Rice say his case is similar to others where people were wrongly convicted. They point to problems like witnesses making mistakes and lawyers not doing a good job. They believe investigations need to be thorough before someone is put on trial to make sure innocent people aren’t punished for crimes they didn’t commit. While Rice is out of prison now he’s lost many years of his life because of this wrongful conviction and there’s no way to give that time back.

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