Man Imprisoned as Teen Has Conviction Overturned Following Exposé on Incompetent Lawyer by CNN's Jake Tapper

C.J. Rice, who was convicted of attempted murder in 2011 despite flimsy evidence, could soon be free

A federal judge vacated the controversial attempted murder conviction of a man whose case and inadequate legal representation was profiled by journalist Jake Tapper, the CNN anchor reported.

C.J. Rice was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison in connection with a 2011 shooting in Philadelphia that wounded four, including a 6-year-old girl. But the case was hardly open-and-shut.

Tapper, the veteran CNN anchor, has a personal connection to the case. His father, Dr. Theodore S. Tapper, was Rice’s pediatrician and treated the then 17-year-old for a gunshot wound six days before the shooting for which the teen would later be convicted, according to Tapper’s Oct. 22 article “This Is Not Justice: A Philadelphia teenager and the empty promise of the Sixth Amendment,” published in The Atlantic. 

In the article, Tapper portrayed Rice's attorney, Sandjai Weaver, who died in 2019, as overworked and unable to effectively represent Rice, saying her counsel was "dangerously incompetent."

Just over a year after the article’s publication, United States District Judge Nitza I. Quiñones Alejandro, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, granted a writ of habeas corpus in the case, finding that Rice’s “trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance,” CNN reported.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office will have 180 days to decide whether to retry the case or set Rice free. A statement from the office indicated that it was “pleased” with Quiñones' decision.

“This matter will now be referred to the DA’s Sentencing Review Committee, which includes homicide prosecutors and will invite participation of survivors of the 2011 shooting for which Mr. Rice was previously convicted,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement reported by CNN. “After the Sentencing Review Committee makes a recommendation on how to proceed with the charges against petitioner Rice, the decision of District Attorney Larry Krasner will be formally communicated to the Court of Common Pleas ahead of its ruling. We expect this matter to be finally resolved within the next several months.”

Tapper’s 2022 article shined light on the case, including details about Rice’s physical condition in the lead-up to the shooting. According to the article, one of the four shooting victims had told police she had seen Rice sprinting away from the scene. But Dr. Tapper would testify that he had just seen Rice in severe pain, with serious physical impairments, just days before.

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“The amount of pain that I saw him with and the inability to stand and get onto and off the table in my office on the 20th of September makes me very dubious as to whether he could walk standing up straight, let alone run with any degree of speed, five days after I saw him,” the elder Tapper told the court during Rice’s trial, according to his son’s article.

Rice and Dr. Tapper corresponded through letters for years, with the latter believing the former was wrongfully convicted.

Rice’s case will now be sent to the Court of Common Pleas, which will schedule a status hearing with the state and Rice’s attorneys, according to CNN. The district attorney’s office will then have six months to make a decision on freeing Rice or retrying him.

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