C.J. Rice was 17 when he was convicted of attempted murder in connection with a 2011 South Philadelphia shooting that injured four people.
The only problem? There was no way Rice could have been physically capable of carrying out the shooting, as he was already severely injured by an unrelated shooting, according to his pediatrician at the time, Dr. Theodore Tapper.
Tapper said Rice could barely walk and was in a great deal of pain, and witnesses said the assailant sprinted away from the scene. Still, Rice was allegedly named by a confidential informant was sentenced to 30 to 60 years behind bars.
Rice, now 28, is still serving time in prison and Theodore Tapper and his son, CNN's Jake Tapper, are now championing Rice's case in hopes of clearing his name.
"It was a travesty of justice, no police force in my view would have arrested me for the exact same crime with that little evidence," Jake Tapper said.
The Tappers spoke with Jim Braude on Greater Boston about the incompetent legal representation that Rice received and what Jake Tapper called “the empty promise of the Sixth Amendment” for poor defendants, which guarantees the right to a public and speedy trial.
Tapper said the standards for public defenders are very low. "If the attorney has a pulse and is in the room, pretty much that's good enough," he said.
Watch: CNN's Jake Tapper and his father on wrongfully convicted CJ Rice and the 6th Amendment
