Man who allegedly shot Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier is released from prison after 20 years

After 20 years behind bars for the 1996 shooting of Heisman Trophy winner and former Camden football standout Mike Rozier, Louis Pierce was released from prison after a legal battle he started while serving a life sentence.

His hard-won freedom may be temporary. Prosecutors plan to try him again on attempted murder and gun charges. That could mean more time in prison for Pierce if he is convicted in the case that made national headlines when Rozier was gunned down in Camden.

Pierce, 59, walked out of prison on April 16 after a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that overturned his conviction in Superior Court in Camden and life sentence in the shooting of Rozier and another man.

He was met by two of his lawyers and supporters outside the Walt Whitman House in downtown Camden, across the street from the county jail. In a Facebook post, one of the lawyers, John Stapleton, noted that the poet often wrote about the “convict soul” and a yearning for freedom.

Pierce had been in custody since April 30, 1999, and spent 20 years, 11 months, and 16 days in prison while filing appeals, according to Stapleton. After exhausting his state appeals, Pierce filed a writ of habeas corpus and a federal judge in 2017 appointed Stapleton and a team of lawyers to represent him pro bono.

His legal team argued that Pierce had ineffective counsel during his trial and was wrongfully discouraged from testifying by his lawyer at the time. His lawyers won that round in 2018, but the state appealed. Pierce remained in prison until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit unanimously affirmed the lower court ruling on April 8.

“There are a lot of tough times in this man’s history,” Stapleton wrote. “But today, this day, is one amazing, blessed day in our small corner of the world.”

Pierce, free on $50,000 bail awaiting trial, maintains his innocence and says he was misidentified in the shooting. He has landed a job and an apartment, and plans to marry his longtime girlfriend at the end of the month, Stapleton said Thursday.

“I am thankful and blessed. I truly pray for everybody in and out of the case and wish them well,” Pierce said in a statement. He declined an interview request.

In a legal brief opposing Pierce’s release on bail, acting Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Christine Shah contended that Pierce was a flight risk and a danger to society who had served “merely” 20 years of his mandatory 29½-year sentence before parole eligibility.

Shah also cited Pierce’s criminal record before the shooting, which included eight convictions for burglary, robbery, and gun and drug charges. She said Pierce “brazenly” shot Rozier and another man from a distance of 13 yards.

“There is no reason to believe that this pattern of lawlessness would not continue,” Shah wrote. Pierce was released by Judge Edward J. McBride Jr.

In 2000, Pierce was found guilty in the Nov. 5, 1996, shooting of Rozier, a Woodrow Wilson High football legend and the 1983 Heisman winner from the University of Nebraska.

Rozier, then 36, was shot twice in the stomach and once in the hand during a gathering in the McGuire Gardens housing complex, where authorities said people were drinking and using cocaine. His friend Bart Merrill also was shot.

Authorities said Rozier intervened after a dispute between Merrill and Pierce. The two had argued previously, and on the night of the shooting Pierce pulled out a handgun, authorities said. Pierce has said he didn’t know Rozier and had no issues with Merrill.

Pierce, who lived in Philadelphia, was arrested in Maryland a year after the shooting when Rozier identified him as the shooter. Merrill was fatally shot in 1998 in Camden.

Rozier ran for 2,148 yards and scored 29 touchdowns on the way to becoming Nebraska’s second Heisman winner. He played seven years in the NFL with the Houston Oilers and the Atlanta Falcons and two years in the now-defunct USFL. He retired in 1992.

» READ MORE: Former Woodrow Wilson football star Mike Rozier: Old school as ever

A College Football Hall of Famer, Rozier, 59, is a popular sports figure and philanthropist in South Jersey. He started the Mike Rozier Cancer Foundation with his brother, Guy, and makes charity appearances and attends celebrity golf events.

“Help people while you can,” he told The Inquirer in 2018. Rozier declined interview requests.

It was not until a year after the shooting that Rozier identified Pierce as his assailant from two photo arrays. He later testified, “I don’t forget nobody shooting me for nothing.” His testimony was the only evidence against Pierce during his trial, according to court records. Two other eyewitnesses testified that Pierce was not the shooter.