PHILADELPHIA, PA — The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has officially dropped all charges against Charles J. Rice, whose 2011 conviction for a mass shooting in South Philadelphia was overturned last November by a federal court. This decision came after a hearing on Monday before the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, where Judge James Eisenhower approved the motion to dismiss the charges related to the shooting on September 25, 2011, in the Point Breeze neighborhood.
Rice, who was 17 at the time of the incident, had been convicted in 2013 of four counts of Attempted Murder, Aggravated Assault, and related charges, receiving a sentence of 30 to 60 years in prison. However, the DA’s Federal Litigation Unit acknowledged weaknesses in the evidence against Rice and issues of ineffective legal counsel during his original trial. This acknowledgment led to Rice’s conviction being vacated by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on November 27, 2023, just after his 30th birthday.
Rice was subsequently released on bail under certain conditions on December 19, 2023. The decision to drop the charges comes after the District Attorney Larry Krasner’s Gun Violence Task Force conducted further investigations into the crime, amidst considerations of Rice’s potential retrial. This move by the DA’s Office closes a significant chapter in Rice’s legal journey, leading to his exoneration for the shooting that injured a young man and his family members, who were believed to be associated with a violent neighborhood group.