March 18, 2024
Anthony Behar/SIPA
CNN anchor Jake Tapper, above, and his father, Theodore, have been vocal advocates for 30-year-old C.J. Rice, who was wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for more than a decade stemming from a 2011 shooting in Point Breeze. On Monday, Rice was exonerated.
A Philadelphia man who was wrongfully convicted of shooting four people will not have his 2011 case retried after spending more than a decade in prison, a judge ruled Monday. CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who grew up in Philly and became one of the man's fiercest advocates, is now helping raise money for him to start the next chapter of his life.
A GoFundMe campaign sponsored by the nonprofit Dream.org, which Tapper posted on X, seeks to collect donations for 30-year-old C.J. Rice, who's now exonerated of the crime that landed him behind bars. He's now striving to become a paralegal and needs resources to help him get settled with basic expenses.
Rice was 17 years old when he was charged with attempted murder in a quadruple shooting in Point Breeze. Two gunmen had opened fire on a group of people sitting outside a home, striking a man who had been tied to gang violence and injuring three of his family members before the shooters fled the scene.
Less than three weeks before that shooting occurred, Rice had been shot while riding his bike in South Philly. He had to undergo surgery to remove a bullet from his torso, leaving him with a painful incision that required follow-up care. Tapper's father, Theodore, was Rice's pediatrician. He did not believe Rice was physically capable of committing the crime as it was described to police.
Prosecutors, relying on questionable testimony, had argued the quadruple shooting was a gang-related act of retaliation. Rice was one of two people charged. His co-defendant was acquitted of all of the charges he faced. Rice was found guilty in 2013 and sentenced to spend 30 to 60 years at a state prison in Delaware County.
Over the years, as Rice worked from prison to appeal the case, the Tappers took a personal interest in helping him seek justice. The story garnered national attention in 2022 when Jake wrote an article for the Atlantic detailing the holes in the case against Rice and the ways in which the legal system had failed him — specifically, the public defender who had neglected to present key evidence in Rice's favor. Tapper also talked about the case in a segment on CNN.
In November, a federal court vacated Rice's conviction and sentence on grounds that his "trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance" to him. He was released the next month and the Philadelphia district attorney's office was given six months to decide whether to retry him. The office declined to pursue the case after reviewing the evidence.
Tapper was with his father in Philadelphia to attend Monday's court hearing and wrote another piece for the Atlantic to celebrate the end of Rice's legal saga.
FINALLY, JUSTICE
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 18, 2024
Two years ago, I wrote an Atlantic cover story about the case of C. J. Rice, a Philadelphia teenager convicted of attempted homicide. Today, he was exonerated. C. J. Rice is now a free man. https://t.co/EGiSF64PVy
"My father campaigned for Rice’s release for more than a decade, testifying at his trial and appeals, even marshaling a team of specialized lawyers to his defense and — after lobbying by me — allowing me to report on the story," Tapper said. "Today’s announcement is the vindication of his efforts, the culmination of an 83-year-old physician’s commitment to a patient whom everyone else seemed to have forgotten."
After Monday's hearing, Theodore Tapper weighed in on the outcome of the case and said he spoke to Rice on the phone.
“The ruling this morning was the correct one – except C.J. never should have been charged with any crime in the first place,” Theodore Tapper told CNN. “He’s been locked up by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 12 years for a crime he had nothing to do with. The legal system churns on its own merry way and justice is seldom found. C.J. now has a chance to start building a life.”
Rice received legal help from the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and the Exoneration Project, both of which work to assist people wrongly convicted of crimes.
In a statement to CNN, Rice said he was grateful for the resolution of his case, but disappointed that the process took as long as it did.
“For me personally, I’m glad to see this wrong righted,” Rice told CNN. “Can’t call it a mistake. Because the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s judicial system had at least five separate times to correct this specific situation and chose not to act in the interest of justice."
As of Monday evening, the GoFundMe page for Rice had collected more than $29,000 in donations.
"He wants to embrace this opportunity," the GoFundMe's description says. "If you have the means, we are asking that you help us help him re-start his life. If you can afford to donate, C.J. would appreciate your help, too, so he can pay rent, go to school, buy groceries and try to re-start his life."
