PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After a wrongful conviction investigation, Philadelphia’s District Attorney has decided to drop all charges against a man convicted of four counts of attempted murder for a 2011 quadruple shooting in Point Breeze.
Charles J. Rice was 17 when he was convicted of the four counts and sentenced to 30 to 60 years behind bars. A known gang member and members of his family were the victims and prosecutors said retaliation was the motive for a prior shooting that wounded Rice.
Rice is now 30, and was released from prison last November after a federal court vacated the charges for lack of evidence and ineffective counsel.
It gave the District Attorney’s office six months to decide whether to retry Rice or withdraw the charges. The DA then initiated a wrongful conviction investigation of the 2011 shooting led by its Gun Violence Task Force.
Assistant District Attorney William Fritze, the chief of the Gun Violence Task Force, guided the investigation.
“This case really comes down to what I believe was a battle of the alibis and who had the stronger alibi between the two co-defendants,” said Fritze.
Rice’s co-defendant was found not guilty and presented a solid alibi that was backed up by a video presented at the trial. An eyewitness also pointed the finger at him as the one who committed the shooting.
However, the misidentification of that eyewitness was the major factor in deciding to drop all the charges.
“She stated that Mr. Rice had braids hanging down around his face, with a hoodie tied up around it,” said Fritze. “When we look at the arrest photo for Mr. Rice, he actually had cornrows, so his hair was actually pulled back along his head.”
The mother of a victim, who was the eyewitness, also did not respond to repeated attempts to be re-interviewed by the DA’s office as part of its investigation.