was charged and convicted of attempted murder sentence 230 to 60 years in prison. cj rice is conviction never made sense, especially to his childhood pediatrician, dr. theodore tapper, treated cj and the days after he was shot in knew he was too injured to have committed this crime, dr. tapper couldn't let it go and he told me the sun cnn's jake tapper about the story jake, who also grew up in philadelphia, began investigating cj's case and discovered a series of missteps by law enforcement and cj's own in defense attorney. just this week after more than 12 years in prison, all charges against cj were dropped. cj rice is now 30 years old and a free man thanks in large part to the efforts of jake's father and jake zone reporting over the next hour, jake tapper lays out exactly how the system failed cj and gives us a deeply personal look at how cj survived all those years in prison through a series of letts, series of letters that cj sent to jake's data during his time in jail >> this led us from february 2 in 2021 it tastes a whole lot of resolve, i guess to me, visit things as seqnames & all or month everything set in dislike wow. kind of a life was dead >> ever woke up >> how do you sleep i my gland half, nothing >> nonetheless i can't wait to get out of this i'm gonna do my best far away from the madness >> cj i'm quite often. i would ride my ride my bicycle to work and sometimes i would make house calls on my bicycle. is that right? >> not often, but once in awhile what my black bag and the handlebars and go peddling down the street. >> that's fine >> i remember that this is, my dad eye dr. theodore tapper >> you practiced >> here for what, 30 years? 35 he's a pediatrician. >> this was his old medical office. >> how many kids would you see on average on a >> daily basis if you have the gas >> 15, somewhere in that the ballpark morning and afternoon. >> my dad now at three years old. saw thousands of kids throughout his career, including a young boy by the name of cj jay rice. >> do you remember how old >> cj was when you first saw him? >> he was born at a hospital in south philadelphia and somebody from our medical group all him when he was a newborn. so you've you've seen him since he was a little bit absolutely >> i had a c-section and he was a big peak been he was fine loving your air, which good like to have phones, like to go to cousin's house, like to go to the baseball games do you remember your mom taking you to see my dad when he was your pediatrician? >> yes. yes, i remember that that's ever attacked the tampa holies it'd be like a small piece of advice. it'd be light. but, you know, your mom won't steer you wrong into might be something as simple as i want some candy at some. >> what's it like going back and thinking about you as a little boy, going to see my dad knowing now the role that he ended up plank slow. >> well, every >> it blows my mind every time i think about it because how can you add your head around that >> i still got 80 pounds of muscle backers has gone >> who won? well, how are you >> i'm cj was my dad's patient and then his pen pal. >> i don't know if you're a pack rat >> i am. >> so these are letters, original letters that you wrote me and photocopies of letters that i wrote you >> it's crazy. i remember >> i >> high cj and my dad would write to each other for a total of seven years. cj's letters are mostly handwritten, not by choice, but by circumstance tell me about the first letter cj wrote to you from prison. >> he wrote me and he was very polite. you dear dr. tapper, could you please do let me a favor and see if you can get the medical records from jefferson's hospital >> naibe waf. so d'azur, 17 back the tavern hopefully as is that a residual, everything is as good as can be circumstances >> may 2019, their cj able to 12,020 december 2021, february 13, 2020 so these ladders for my dad. >> did you look forward to getting them? >> i did yeah, i did a lot really. >> yeah. because it's a it's a constant so you get used to constants in jail. but most of them are demeaning or not so personal but a letter with ink on it from somebody on other side of the water as personal that makes you feel human it was genuine. >> the, the can concern as a father, he for me, it was >> genuine >> he's a fantastic writer. he's very bright and when i tell people who wrote what they just finished reading they're amazed >> and he also wrote about how tough it is being a poor black kid growing up in south philly? >> yes >> at the age of seven. you make you for his drugs? oblivious to which actually done. it just following directions to count 13 bags, 50% of the individuals are my generation will form. i went to school with play sports with or there's some piece of growing up with are in a graveyard prison parole, or probation mayor shy data, quite keen. they are >> that must be so traumatic. i mean growing up with all these kids, you knew getting killed it's a long leg. it's just >> a lot of pain i met a lot of pain >> and >> it's allowed misunderstanding he grew up walking distance from the office that i practiced in for most of the 48 years that i was in so philadelphia. >> yeah. and this is i mean, this is one of the reasons why you chose to practice medicine where you chose to practice medicine? >> yeah >> to help these kids >> well someone's gotta do it more than a decade ago, south philadelphia was caught in the circularity of poverty and crime. my hometown was the poorest big city in america with the highest murder rate per capita in 2011 that's the year cj turns 17. the year cj's life changed forever that's september cj and his friend tyler lender we're peddling toward rice's home around 07:00 p.m. soon a black oldsmobile pulled up behind them and an arms stretched out of the car window and fired multiple shots cj was hit three times >> tell me about what it felt like. >> it's a shot. is a shot is a stun as a sharp, it is just i one of those for me and my friend made a bank to my mom house >> tallow was being on the door, same as kristen was christo not came to the window and i looked at the screens. i see got shot >> all right. mean nasty. it's newness. want cj came around a corner on a bike like this and he was holding the side and he fell on us that it was terrifying >> i can see i just saw the blood but you think it was mistaken identity? had been a case of mistaken identity >> you don't know who was in the black oldsmobile? >> cj was shot in his abdomen, in his left flank and his buttock. >> a surgeon had to cut from >> your sternum down to a few inches below your naval to find and then go into your body and extract a bullet this was closed with more than two dozen staples. >> it was difficult >> what was it like after you got discharged from hospital and went home? >> those a little more difficult, even just getting up and going to the bathroom those 2030 steps might not sound like a lot, but as taxon he came to see you on september 20, 2011? >> he had trouble walking two or three steps to the exam table sitting on the table, he lowered himself to the chair very slowly. >> when you saw him leave that day, he's healthy, 17 year-old kid. >> how did he walk >> previously? healthy, 70. year-old kid? right >> this is not me. this is him. yeah >> and? his mom was helping. them a little bit wow, that's rough >> 22 days after cj was shot in just five days after he visited my dad. there was yet another shooting in south philadelphia five, days later. there's this other shooting in south philadelphia on south 18th street >> you were >> in west philadelphia? >> west philly at the time? >> the night of september 25, 2011 was unseasonably warm, but fury's johnson came out on her stoop waiting for a food delivery. five of her relatives all so younger around her, including her six-year-old niece. now, at around 930 johnson says to men came up from fern and street right to the corner here of south asia keith >> if department what's address >> when we return? >> all of a sudden litres >> identifies cj. >> no one ever followed up on those leads. no one interviewed those witnesses. how can you >> defend me? in the case >> do you have no >> knowledge of the crime scen e >> paul simon is joined assignment i've never wanted to be anything other than one singer and songwriter >> already. that was a good friendship. we thought we should express what our generation i want to go and follow the music. you never know what you're going to find along the way and you find that thing that produces isa joy, hold onto it the edge and rash of moderate to severe eczema disrupts my >> skin night and day spike treatment, it's still not under control. but now i have revoke >> revoke is a once-daily pill that reduces the itch and helps clear the rash of eczema fast. some are invoked patients felt significant inch relief as early as two days. some achieved dramatic skin clearance as early as two weeks. and many taking one vote okay. saw clear are almost clear skin. >> run vote can lower your ability to fight infections and serious infections in blood clots, some fatal cancers including lymphomas, skin, heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occur people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death, serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your dr. if you are or may become pregnant help heal your painful skin, disrupt the pitch and rash of eczema. talk to your dr. about brynn vote >> learn how advil can help you save once retired mark has decided. i will never again work for another man or woman i abandoned my corporate phone plan and i'll get a new plan with consumers cellular for up to half the costs, less coburn >> when >> freedom calls, we're here to answer your dr. tapper police a swear up and down. a no was going on, but they don't just assume and categorized as by who we grew up with. they don't understand that is not always chewed at birds of a feather flock together department on the night of september 25, 2011, >> litres johnson and three members of her family, including her six-year-old niece, were injured the south philadelphia shooting this is what johnson said when asked who the suspects were by 911 dispatcher attorney amelia maxfield works for the exoneration project a legal clinic fighting for those convicted of crimes they did not commit. >> she also told the first responders she didn't know who shot her, and then we learned and post-conviction investigation that through her medical records that she had i told the doctors and the nurses at the hospital while she was being treated that she only heard the shooting and she didn't see it. so she told multiple people for nearly 24 hours that she couldn't identify the shooter after the police claimed they received an anonymous tip, a policeman presented litres johnson with a photo lineup of potential shooters. she selected cj she knew cj because her son, who was also one of the victims of the shooting that night, had once been friends with him? yeah. that's done homework together and such. yeah. >> among the wounded was johnson's 23 year-old stepdaughter, la toya lane lane would identify tyler lender in another photo lineup tyler was the one riding bikes with cj when cj was shot >> i didn't think there would be a trial. >> raymond driscoll was tyler's attorney. >> mr. lenders, mother owned a cleaning company. they had an account in northeast philadelphia and on the date when the shooting occurred, tyler lender, his mother, and his little brother, were at that location. they cleaned multiple buildings at that location >> the >> entry and exit of their vehicle was documented by video evidence from that facility what do you want the family of litres johnson to know about that night and september 2011 >> i had nothing to do with it. >> you were with your godmother? >> i was in the house. she wasn't de but i was in house >> you are with gadhafi, her son >> the only quote, unquote evidence against you >> was litres johnson, who the night of the shooting to three different police officers did not identify you, even though she knew you and only identified you after a tip came into the police and the detective went and saw her with a photo alignment since this happened in jazz and 11, they've now changed the procedure so that the person who does the photo lineup is not investigating the case. it's double-blind. so there can't be any bias, implicit or explicit but that's not how they did it at the time. >> we don't know what was cited in that room. it wasn't recorded >> the detectives who worked on this case did not respond to cnn's request. quest for comment your mom, who worked at the district attorney's office, heard that the police were seeking you for questioning. your godmother took you down to the police station? >> i'm thinking that, you know, all right. well, we could go clear this out right now. we go we go next to me, no questions. they discharged me cj and tyler were each charged with four counts of attempted murder. >> you didn't have money to make bail so you sat in jail joe. >> all right. >> what was your first night in jail >> it was trying to try your were 17, right? >> dear dr. tapper everything falls back on my original child attorneys specifically, ineffective assistance of counsel claims and our failures to uncover the truth effects that now have to argue in all these years later >> so your mom arranges for a friend of her sandjai weaver to become your court appointed attorney what did you think when you heard that? >> i was okay with it at the time you knew her my mom worked at the scene. light on the same floor and additional attorney's office sandjai weaver was an experienced lawyer she did have a busy criminal defense practice. i think she was doing this for the right reason. i think she was well-intentioned as a court appointed or would make a minimal flat fee per case cj and his mom did not know that weaver had filed for chapter 13 bankruptcy nine months earlier. >> if you're getting paid like that urine, a volume business and you have a lot of clients and your time is really stretched. >> how many times did you talk to her when you were in prison? >> probably three or four times >> for how long >> on a phone about seven minutes and face-to-face comparison of 1015 minutes. >> she had a lot of files with a lot of file so she was meeting with a lot of prisoners >> cj says he asked sandjai weaver several times to subpoena his cell phone records, but she never did. >> i know that the phone with that proved that it wasn't anywhere near where that crime it could have bolstered his alibi defense or even provided him a real alibi. >> his private attorneys should have done more with that a foam we actually were asked to take over this investigation and look at this case as though it was a new case coming to us. >> assistant district attorney, bill fritz. he would later re-investigated cj's case had she been able to come forward with that phone? the detectives could have done more had she spoken to the district attorney and said, hey, there's a phone that was recovered. will you search it? >> tell me about when you heard the jailhouse conversation between cj and his mom and he is trying to get her to get his attorney to get the cell phone records to prove he was in west philadelphia, not in south philly where the shooting happened. >> that was very compelling usually, having listened to lots of prison phone calls from a lot of different defendants, what you hear as them hi to come up with a story or make up a story. in particular, what cj wanted was a particular phone >> when did you realize that she was not prepared? >> the morning of trying >> you could >> tell us umayyad has prepared a policed. she was employs the papers would disorganized >> no real notes >> like she didn't study the case at all >> but the prosecutor moves to introduce a theory that one of the victims of the september 25th shooting might have been the same person that shot cj about three weeks before the prosecution's theory was that this was a retaliatory shooting because the fifth street gang and the seventh street gang refuting. is there any evidence evidence that cj rice was a member? i've either gang it's no evidence cj's co-defendant at the time provided a statement where he said that cj hung out with people from seven straight, but other than that, there's no real clear connection between cj and any groups or any of this being retaliatory between gangs. right. but it's saying that cj hangs out with people. does it mean he's in a gang or a criminal >> no, not no absolutely not. >> sandjai weaver agreed to allow this retaliation theory to move forward but objected to the arguments around cj being in a gang philadelphia attorney karl schwartz began his career as a public defender in 1983 what that did for the commonwealth is it allowed them to create in the minds of the jurors that mr. rice had a motive to commit this act >> when the jury is told that they can accept what essentially is motive evidence than they accepted. and it was devastating to mr. rice's defense when we return for testimony, makes it seem like she was identifying him from the photo >> litres >> johnson, the prosecution's key >> eyewitness, and my father take the stand. >> i didn't know what question she was going to ask. she didn't know what i was going to say >> let me check >> we hear nothing but >> shuttle accident excuse me, not one thing. it's a series of events is that is that part of the wing coming apart? 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john introduced to trial >> not introduced to trial >> mile him a few days before the shooting said that cj could? barely walk much less run she calls my dad, he testifies the amount of pain that i saw him width 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 you have speed five days. after i saw him >> it's just >> my dad's word. there's no pictures of his staples all up and down his torso. know surgeon's notes nothing. >> had you gotten cj rice full medical records? she would've known in your dad would known that he had pneumonia while he was hospitalized and then also he suffered a common udid fracture of his pelvis this which is a complex fracture that can take longer to heal than a simple fracture. those are important facts that were never in front of the jury. >> did you tell him to take the pain medication? >> i suggest that he might feel a little bit better if he took one or two occasionally >> i told him i can light the first time that i'd set them. i didn't like the way it made me feel shy. i hadn't taken him again. >> how they make you feel like spaced out he certainly expressed that he didn't like the way the percuss that's made him feel so he wasn't going to take anymore. did sandjai weaver have any knowledge of your >> conversation with cj about why he was not taking painkillers? >> no. >> the prosecutor basically trying to undermine your testimony by saying you have no idea if he was capable of of the shooting because you have no idea if he was taking painkillers, but sanjay didn't come back and say that you didn't think he was on percocet because of the conversation you had, correct? when litres johnson testified sandjai weaver neglected to point out key inconsistencies for instance, johnson said that the shooter had braids, quote, hanging right on the side so cj's arrest photo >> and this photo was taken on the 27th, not even two days after the shooting he does have a breeds, but there are cornrows to his head. >> and this is important >> who was actually the african american people in my office, the analysts that look at it, that said that's no there's no way that this is fresh and done and there's no way that they would have been able to do it and two days >> detectives had used this photo when they asked litres johnson to identify cj, but this photo is from march 2000, 116 months before the shooting taken after a juvenile drug case. >> and so her testimony, given these two photos, makes it seem like she was identifying him from the photo, right. and not for memory the crime scene map clearly shows that there are two vehicles parked between where she was sitting and where the shooter was, and that the shooter fired most of the bullets from behind those cars on the corner >> johnson testified that the shooters were 20 feet away but if you look where the shooters were, all the way over here this is more like 60 feet away. >> 20 feet away is actually right around here when cross-examining litres, johnson, sandjai weaver admitted to her lack of knowledge about the crime scene she says, sorry, ms johnson >> i'm not familiar with your area. >> when i heard that i was like i can go to the crime scene. how can you defend me? in the case and you have no knowledge of the crime scene >> she also testified that there was a light above the shooter or a streetlamp, and there wasn't had sanjay visited the crime scene, she would have known all as things if she'd even just internalize the police's crime scene map that was provided and discovery. >> the 911 calls from the night of the shooting, they were never submitted as evidenced, should they have been what would they have shown as it turns out, there were two uninvolved witnesses who called 911, both of them reported only seeing one shooter one of these witnesses described the shooter as wearing blue jeans and a blue shirt, and that obviously conflicts with the description we got from lottery. as far as we know, no one ever followed up on those leads. no one interviewed those witnesses >> in the year and a half leading up to the trial, sandjai weaver also failed to collect any alibis statements making it seem as though cj had no alibi at all the way that your alibi witnesses were presented first, sanjay called deanna, your godmother? who was actually not there at the time of the shooting? >> west appointment, call it what's the point of calling her? >> then she called qaddafi malone, your godmother son and he was there but he had never publicly said before that he was with you? >> it made it it made it a light day was lying tyler lender was found not guilty on all charges >> everyone associated with the case may include so did let out a sigh of relief unfortunately, when they got to mr. rice the first verdict that was announced was guilty and so is every other one i was devastated i didn't believe it. i was in disbelief. like, how could this happen >> the judge sentenced. you have 32, 60 years which is a very harsh penalty. for a shooting in which nobody was seriously injured, much less killed march 2, >> 2018 dear dr. tapper hopefully this letter finds you well. >> as for me >> i'm just taking this situation one day at a time may 18 2018 optimism plus >> resilience plus persistence that's the way i look at danes there's only buffer so long to true facts and the truth can be suppressed well, until next time, dr. ted seeds >> next, it is a system that pixel important for people, picks on black people >> what was daily life like in prison >> this is, the big dam >> keynesian that, do you know what's brilliant boring think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bowl. what's drops mould do rocket, hurdles and into space? 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>> let's go back to the beginning. >> if you were electric future palo vii to three-to-one, three-to-one. today. >> i'm summons or fatty in washington and this is cnn dated april 8, 2017 up literally become numb than b and chita cell may. is subjected to the attitude that his doc employees it's very beloved or enemy. how to use this aesthetician art it termed as corrections vowed to the contrary. if you are respectful ticulate, and humble you receive belligerently condescending conduct from the individuals, who have authority over you >> what did you, ms the most? >> when you were in prison >> family >> your mom >> they'll cousin grandma i the small small thing to have your child taken away from you as a teenager and you're not to be able to be apparent to them and just see them annoy there. okay. >> as heartbreaking >> to just have your child snatched away from we always hear what happens in prison and see it. the pick them on television. what happens in prison? and you just wonder was going loyal, are they okay >> what was daily life like in prison >> s.i. bm. locked away and my you ever seen the movie the runner? it's just like the attendance would be the cos they get to say whatever they want, do whatever they want no reprisal, know uca file a grievance, but the grievance few tau it was terrible >> when you read a lot or at a lot wrote a lot. >> you helped other prisoners get their gets. all right. >> you counsel them. what made you do that >> because for me personally education is a must. so if i can help this guy learn some, i'm going to help >> november 9, 2017 dear dr. tapper how's everything going? good hopefully, as for me, i'm okay and remain and diligently working i told myself i'm out of here by the time i turned 26 or when i'm 26, i go to school to pass the bar exam and become a licensed practitioner >> cj rice would spend more than a dozen years behind bars. he explored every legal avenue to get out there are over 1.2 million people in prison at this moment in the united states, do we have any idea how many are estimated to be >> innocent, but being prison anyway, we don't know for sure, but studies you around four to 6% of the total prison population, which would be somewhere around 50,000 people >> what is the great disappointment to me is that this legal system does not work as hard as it could to minimize that number. and in fact, has worked during my professional career in the exact opposite >> we should all want a system that is accurate >> philadelphia district >> attorney larry krasner, >> what i saw for the first 30 years of my career when i was in attorney over and over over, there was about winning. it was about assuming and presuming that whenever the detectives believed was true, it was about frankly, not carrying too much whether the defendant and it was actually guilty because as i heard many prosecutors say, well, if he didn't do this, he did something else and that of course was fundamentally about viewing a certain category of people is being sub-human. >> since you became district attorney, there have been 44 exonerations of 43 people. the vast majority of those that your offices exonerated are black. what does that say about the system? >> well, it is a system that without question disproportionately picks on poor people and picks on black people, and it picks on brown people. >> that's what it does. that's what it's always done >> cj would advocate for his innocence for years behind bars for awhile, my dad was one of the only ones listening >> over the >> years, what are all the avenues that you explore to try to get cj's case reconsidering well, sandjai weaver very soon dropped out of the picture and then he had a different >> lawyer who i worked with a little bit four the first level appeal and then that one didn't go anywhere. >> law second level appeal to superior court. >> it >> happens that i know two of the people full who sit on superior court and i said, how often do you overturn the lower court ruling and they said, oh, no, we we affirm that 90, 95% of the time we just rule the same way that the trial judge rules the appeals process. >> it doesn't seem >> designed to make sure that justice was done. that's my impression. >> i was denied five times in a pennsylvania court's it could have correct. it five times >> your >> father we kept the correspondence gone. that was like an extra it was like an extra driving force behind me i didn't i wasn't alone and i sent >> may 2019 years cj i just finished reading, picking cotton about a wrongful conviction for rape that eventually was reversed. powerful book. if you ever get a chance to read it from picking cotton conquered, they can never be whose spirits and whose souls are free. hope this information is helpful, not that you asked for. stay strong and free as ever >> cj's, lawyer at the time thought that press attention might hurt his chances, but in 2020, my dad would finally let me start investigating cj's case after years of you telling me about cj and these letters i started to say to you, why don't you let me cover those, wondering, this sounds like a real injustice it sounds like sandjai weaver was a horrible attorney. it sounds like your testimony should have been weighted much more than it was. >> it >> took years, but finally, you let me do it. >> yes. >> it finally got to the point where we see jni that team of two it was exhausting all of the legal avenues >> it took me a couple >> of years, but we did a very thorough story for the atlantic and then i covered that story on cnn be cover story of the atlantic's november issue out today's cnn's own jake tapper telling the story here. cj rice. >> and it is the most unjust case like this. i've ever i've ever seen. >> and then you and i also went on cbs this morning and talk to gayle king and her team. >> you said what happened after the case is not open for argument. what do you mean by that? >> the idea that he had legal representation worthy of the name, there's no dispute about that. he did not did you think at all at all that any of this was going to have any positive impact >> well that was my hope when we return, i think the impact of that article was undeniable >> the path to freedom >> there was some reinvestigation do you have any idea who did do the shooting >> backroom >> deals, cia >> secrets, affairs, bribery corruption, prostitution? >> there's so much more to the store. >> united states of scandal with jake tapper. on cnn. >> excuse me. would you mind taking a picture of us? >> no problem. thanks. >> yes problem. you need if verizon get the new iphone 15 pro with tons of storage, so you can take all the pics straight in any iphone in any condition and good iphone 15 pro and ipad and apple watch se all on us only verizon >> better with the credit god's on your side. rewards once available to the view, are now accessible to the many credit one bank get cashback rewards and looms large rice, >> diabetes. it has no slowing down each day is a unique blend of people to see and things to do >> that's >> why you choose concern. it's a help manage blood sudo response uniquely designed with carb steady glue sirna, bring on the day to test the toughness of the key is sorrento x. nicaea sorrento turbo-hybrid we recreated some of the wettest spring hottest summer >> when >> and coldest winters >> on one i'm track to prove these three row suvs were built for the unstoppable movement that inspires >> you have chronic kidney disease. you can reduce the risk of kidney failure with of course, sega, because they're places you'd like to be for cql can cause serious side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal dehydration, urinary tract or you know, to yeast infections and low blood sugar are rare life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur, stopped taking for sika and call your dr. right away. if you have symptoms of this objection and allergic reaction or ketoacidosis >> look, we know it's going to be a big change, but it's the right thing to do. >> for all of us. >> it's just your mother and i went different things, which is why we got sling tv so we can watch live and free tv on one app that's right. >> dad gets live sports and news and i get my reality shows. >> and when we don't want to pay your mom and i can still get hundreds of channels for free. >> thing is really keeping this family together. >> you have no idea. i h.07 to prescription and shipping are free to go to get friday plans.com closed captioning is brought to you by skechers, hands-free slip ends definitely a future like i did new hands-free skechers slip in. the secret is slip ends have an invisible filth in shoe horn, so your foot slides into place to try skechers slip this led us from february 13, 2022 what if you stop an egg? someone what does time how important is it to you? we know that d seasons change in a sun and the moon rises and sets it's all in a frame set in time. but do we really understand? i truly understand what time is >> how can one truly know whether time is on our side or if times work in a guest i wrote about cj's case in october 2022 >> did you ever >> get a copy of the atlantic when you're in prison? >> they put it up in a law librarian library what was it like seeing your face on the cover of a magazine >> it was mind-blowing that was my i'm >> how did you first get involved? >> we were in the process of screening his application and working his case up. when your article came out and at that time, karl schwartz reached out to us amelia maxfield, then with the pennsylvania innocence project and cj's new lawyer, karl schwartz, teamed up. >> i happened to talk to someone who had written a book recently about the death penalty. and he said, what you read do we need is a good habeas corpus lawyer and it happens that one of my closest friends is a habeas corpus lawyer and maybe you should give him a call when i dove into the case, it had all of the typical you know earmarks of a conviction that raised serious, serious questions about its reliability. >> we came in just to provide extra firepower >> after i sent him a copy of the atlantic story, former us solicitor general dan for early junior you're also joined cj's legal team when we met with the district attorney's office, one of the things that did come up in that meeting where we had with him was the article. the article did very, very effectively was pulled together. all of the evidence into one compelling narrative story. i think the impact of that article was undeniable together. >> they would file what's >> called a habeas >> corpus petition in december 2000 2022 months after my atlantic article was published >> habeas corpus >> literally is defined as show me the body. it's a way for a person convicted and sentenced to jail in state court to apply to the federal district court for relief we really focused on the ineffective assistance of counsel that he was denied his right under the sixth amendment to an effective lawyer. this was get our case where the constitution clearly had been violated >> it took months, but eventually, the habeas petition was granted, although cj was not free yet they say j >> you already know the good news about the habeas petition. they ruled in your favor. now begins yet another period of having patients how much longer? nobody can give anything except a rough estimate october of 2023 there cj waiting and waiting, even though we know we feel certainly eventual outcome, the firm release date cannot come too soon >> cj did not have adequate legal representations and today a judge agreed in november 2023, cj's conviction was overturned. >> his fate. >> now in the hands of the philadelphia >> district attorneys office. >> we >> november of 2023, the conviction was overturned, and the judge ordered your office to decide whether to retry him or free him within the next 180 days. what was your office doing during that period after november 2023? well, >> there was a lot of careful discussion about it. obviously significant work had gone into are position even before that date. and then there was some reinvestigation. it all pointed to. this case lacks integrity. we should not try it again >> sandjai weaver, cj rice, trial attorney died in 2019. the district attorney's office and cnn, were unable to reach lottery his johnson, who said cj was the shooter do you have any idea who did do the shooting? >> no. no >> is it just too long ago where in a city that has experienced a monumental amount of shootings, it's hard enough for the police department to keep up with the shootings and homicides that occur every day >> i'm outside the criminal justice center in downtown philadelphia, just march 18, two thousand 24. >> judge. >> james eisenhower granted the motion offered by the district attorney, larry krasner to drop all charges against cj rice here relieves excited for cj. were really happy with this outcome. >> it's nightmares. finally over for him and he can go about rebuilding his life on >> i'd be remiss if i didn't mention the fact that i think cj's out because of my dad, my dad but took. up this case when nobody was paying attention to it, not mean a curl, not you. >> he did in cj, did they did it together? yeah, they're >> gone now. how about us >> i can't believe i'm seeing you face to face and not just on a computer, right >> oh ma'am >> these are the studios >> there's a cj rice. >> as i read one of my floor directors, wolf blitzer and kristin fisher you know, the story sorry, i did about cj rice, the guy who was in prison on justly, this is cj rash blitzer, kristen pressure >> yes, this is my office this in the posters are all people who ran for president and lost that's the >> scenes stories. >> yeah. yeah. yeah. >> how's it feel to be out >> maze affiliate. a sudden as free man can put. >> it in a word >> i so great to see you out here that was yesterday great news >> sometimes i do think >> what can i take from it all less than less to be learned how did things come full well, sir, at a later date. >> it's a wonderful attitude >> i wish i add it for me. i'm glad you haven't three dissemble things in life mean the most may look at them phone todd is getting bigger and bigger. it's going to touch my feet this day >> this rna >> this very moment the south has inexplicably different >> i don't know if i'm doing is right. you notice a contraction at this feels like a picture as moment straight out so how can i feel in these moments? >> law can be first and foremost, grateful and >> this was back i know means any easy feat >> the video you just saw, cj was the first time he ever went to the beach. it's the first of many steps forward for cj and his new life and as you heard in the hour, he plans to go back to school to study law thanks for watching the whole story. i'll see you next sunday

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