South Philly man convicted of attempted murder could soon be freed after Jake Tapper cover story in The Atlantic

C.J. Rice, a South Philadelphia man who was convicted of four counts of attempted murder in 2013 and whose story was written about in 2022 Atlantic cover story by CNN’s Jake Tapper, could soon be freed from prison after a court order issued Monday.

The order, issued in response to a petition for writ of habeas corpus filed on Rice’s behalf last year, gives Pennsylvania 180 days to either retry him or free him from prison. During Rice’s trial, his attorney “rendered ineffective assistance,” U.S. District Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro wrote, which violated his Sixth Amendment rights.

Rice, who has spent more than a decade in prison, was sentenced to 30 to 60 years, and is currently incarcerated at SCI Chester in Delaware County.

Rice’s story came to national attention last year after a cover story in The Atlantic by Tapper, who was raised in Queen Village and Merion. In the piece, Tapper wrote that Rice’s “dangerously incompetent” attorney, Sandjai Weaver, who died in 2019, contributed to his conviction. Tapper also reported that his father, who was Rice’s doctor, testified that he would have been physically unable to commit the crime he was ultimately convicted of because he had injuries from a shooting.

Tapper told The Inquirer that with the latest development in Rice’s case, “an innocent man is one step closer to freedom.”

The case dates back to Sept. 3, 2011, when Rice, then 17, was shot three times, fracturing his pelvis, as a result of what he told Tapper was a case of mistaken identity.

Despite his injuries, Rice was convicted in connection with a Sept. 25, 2011 South Philadelphia shooting in which four people, including a 6-year-old, were injured. Witnesses did not initially identify Rice as the shooter, and authorities were not able to find physical evidence tying him to the scene. As Rice told Tapper last year, after police named him as a suspect, he turned himself in “thinking the matter would be cleared up quickly.”

During Rice’s trial, Tapper’s father, Theodore Tapper, testified that he had examined Rice’s wounds days before the Sept. 25 shooting, and believed that it was unlikely Rice could have walked “standing up straight, let alone run with any degree of speed” at the time.

Jake Tapper wrote that Rice was convicted in the case largely due to Weaver, a court-appointed lawyer, who took on a caseload that left her little time to provide “legal representation worthy of the name.”

Weaver, who became a court-appointed attorney after filing for bankruptcy, made a number of missteps during the trial: She did not introduce Rice’s full hospital records, failed to collect alibi statements or obtain location data from Rice’s cell phone, and did not move to have the case tried in juvenile court. Her performance, Tapper wrote, was “constitutionally defective.”

Tapper believes that his father, Theodore, hired Karl Schwartz, a new attorney for Rice, but Theodore will not reveal to his son if that’s the case. In a follow-up on CNN on Monday, Tapper wrote that Schwartz filed the habeas petition in December 2022. Since the story was published, a number of other attorneys also joined the case, Tapper reports.

In October, U.S.Magistrate Judge Carol Sandra Moore Wells issued a report detailing Rice’s case, and wrote that “habeas relief is warranted.” The case moved on to Alejandro, who issued her ruling in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on Monday.

Now, CNN reports, the case will go back to the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, where a status hearing will be scheduled. The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office will represent the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the case.

The District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to request for comment. However, on Monday, a spokesperson told CNN in a statement that it was “pleased” with the court’s ruling. The case, the office said, will move to the Sentencing Review Committee, which will make a recommendation on what to do regarding the charges against Rice.

“The decision of District Attorney Larry Krasner will be formally communicated to the Court of Common Pleas ahead of its ruling,” the office’s statement read. “We expect this matter to be finally resolved within the next several months.”

Tapper seems proud of what his story accomplished.

“Thank God that in a legal system that too often sits complacent, Judge Carol Sandra Moore Wells, Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro, and A.D.A. Peter Andrews of the Federal Litigation Unit examined the evidence and Karl’s habeas petition, took it seriously and acknowledged the reality that C.J. was not afforded the 6th Amendment rights to counsel that every American can claim,” Tapper said. “Now it’s in D.A. Krasner’s hands and I hope and pray he will take this final step and right this wrong.”