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CJ Rice exonerated after more than ten years in prison

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C.J. Rice interview with CNN

Just over a decade ago, a Philadelphia man was found guilty of against the law despite the fact that his own doctor testified that he was physically unable to perform the shooting as a result of a severe pelvic injury.

According to The New York Times, CJ Rice was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for the Philadelphia shooting that injured 4 people. However, Rice’s charges have now been dropped in reference to the crime for which he was convicted in 2013 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

CJ Rice interviewed CNN's Jake Tapper
CJ Rice spoke to CNN about what it’s prefer to finally be released from prison. (Image: CNN screenshot)

His overturning of his conviction and the state’s subsequent decision to not retry him on the fees represent the culmination of a long-running legal battle and reveal how ineffective legal representation can corrupt the administration of justice. The case gained national attention after CNN correspondent Jake Tapper was notified about it by his father, Dr. Theodore S. Tapper.

Dr. Tapper, who was Rice’s pediatrician in 2011, testified that Rice, then 17, was physically unable to perform the 2011 shooting as a result of a previous shooting incident that left him with a shattered pelvis, severely limiting his mobility. How reported via CNN.

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His journey toward justice began in 2016, when Rice sought Dr. Tapper’s help in obtaining medical records related to his previous shooting that weren’t produced at trial. These files provided key evidence proving Rice’s innocence by demonstrating his physical incapacity to commit the crime of which he was accused.

“Personally, I’m glad this is wrong and corrected,” Rice told CNN in an exclusive interview after being released from prison after his conviction was overturned. “You can’t call it a mistake. Because the Pennsylvania judicial system has had to correct this particular situation at least five times and has chosen not to act in the interest of justice.”

According to the district attorney, a shooting occurred in September 2011 on the family home in Point Breeze, which injured 4 people: a young man, his mother, his sister and his cousin. Witnesses claim that the shooting involved two or three hooded gunmen who fled the scene on foot.

Rice had known the victims for years. He was named a suspect shortly after the incident based on an anonymous tip received by police, after which considered one of the victims named him because the shooter. At the time of the shooting, Rice was having trouble moving as he recovered from injuries he suffered in one other shooting several weeks earlier.

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Rice told CNN: “Either the Court did not hear the case because the public trust gave it the opportunity to do so, or the Pennsylvania courts heard the case and chose to allow the clear injustice to continue as long as no one else knew what was happening. For this reason, the Pennsylvania court system is condemnable and untrustworthy. However, my attention goes out to every prosecutor, state, prosecutor, Commonwealth that keeps an innocent person behind bars, let them free!”

Rice’s reversal of fortune comes consequently of wrongful convictions, which proceed to be a major problem in the United States, especially amongst black men. As of 2023, the National Registry of Exonerations recorded over 3,000 cases of wrongful convictions per yr in the United States report by the US Department of Justice.

Or fairly, separate report conducted by researchers on the University of Michigan Law School and others found that black Americans are disproportionately affected by wrongful convictions.

According to the report “Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States 2022,” which analyzed the cases of three,200 innocent defendants acquitted in the U.S. since 1989, the report revealed that African Americans are seven times more likely than white Americans to be falsely convicted of great crimes. Blacks account for 53 percent of acquittals.

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As for Rice, he eventually got a brand new attorney, who then filed a habeas corpus lawsuit in December 2022, arguing that Rice’s previous defense attorney had incompetently stipulated that he would present evidence falsely implicating Rice in the shooting, ABC News in Philadelphia reported. This later led to Judge James Eisenhower granting a motion to overturn his conviction. This week, the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office told the court that each one charges against Rice had been dropped.

After an intensive investigation, the sentencing review board really useful that the case be thrown out, citing insufficient evidence to persuade the jury of Rice’s guilt beyond an affordable doubt.

“What probably led to his conviction was the fact that his defense counsel was so ineffective,” a source from the district attorney’s office told CNN, confirming lapses in the case handled by earlier prosecutors. Rice expressed relief and gratitude, stating, “Personally, I’m glad this wrong has been righted.”

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This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com

Politics and Current

Trump’s staff are trying to stop the “abuse” of Elon Musk’s relationship with the president, who cannot demand him because “there is no leverage over him, and Elon gives Zero FS”

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He is a spoiled brat of the inner circle of the magician, opening the thumb with Donald Trump’s “Tatus”, seemingly remaining a privileged son.

A jealous older brother Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Trump, who once enjoyed the same close president, declared war with the younger, richer Nemesis a couple of months ago, swearing that he banished him on January 20.

But this date has passed, and Elon is still standing, often alongside the president.

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The president of American Elekt Donald Trump and Elon Musk observe the launch of the sixth Starship Spacex rocket test on November 19, 2024 at Brownsville, Texas. The owner of the billionaire SpaceX, Elon Musk, Trump’s trustee, was used to manage the latest performance of the government department together with the former presidential candidate Vivka Ramaswamy. (Photo Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

However, this week, the General Director of Tesla could go too far. Musk undermined Trump’s announcement on Tuesday about an investment price $ 500 billion in the infrastructure of artificial intelligence, claiming that supporters of the “Stargate project” only a fraction of the proposed investments price $ 500 billion.

He even published a joke This suggested that the directors were burning Crack “to come up with the number of $ 500 billion for Stargate.”

Bannon saw, telling Musk journalists, “he should not reverse what the president was already talking about. This is unacceptable and unsatisfactory. You see how he is out of control.”

Trump, when asked about the number of Musk’s failures at a press conference on Friday, seemed to move his arms.

“I mean that Elon does not like one of these people,” Trump replied, referring to musk contempt for the general director of OPENAI Altman itself, one of the primary investors of the Stargate project.

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That’s all? No pink slip? Even insult? What does the President’s Musk have?

“It is obvious that he abused the proximity of the president,” Trump’s ally he said Politico. “The problem is that the president has no levers over him, and Elon gives zero f – s.”

As Politico noted: “It is very unusual for the senior adviser-Muska-in public to criticize the president’s initiatives, and his broadly favorable speculation in GOP circles about whether he and Trump will finally seem.”

But there are no signs of the upcoming breakup. Trump is unable to hide his feelings and although there have been reports that he has enough musk, the general director of Starlink retains almost unusual access to the president.

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Musk even has an office in West Wing, during which he pilots the “Department of Government”, an advisory commission created by Trump to eliminate waste in the federal government.

“We are now working with him to understand his ideas – the ideas are innovative. Make done not so much,” said a political official of the White House.

Bannon called on the chief of staff of Susie Wiles to “sit (musk) down” and “immediate sorting”.

He should already know: no person puts Elon in the corner.

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This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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Black historians and leaders condemn the executive order of Trump addressed to the Smithsonian African American Museum: “Literal attack on Black America” ​​- essence

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Black historians and leaders condemn the executive order of Trump addressed to the Smithsonian African American Museum:

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, near the Washington monument. (Photo: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group by Getty Images)

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One of the latest executive orders of President Trump is to arouse serious slack and for a reason. New order entitled “Restoring truth and mental health to the history of America” He follows the Smithsonian institution particularly the National Museum of History and Culture of African American-conquering it consisting in pushing “a divisible, focused ideology on the race.”

But about this: the executive order ignores key facts about the history of America, akin to the founders’ fathers wrote slavery in the structure and announced enslaved people as three fifth people.

As Essence informed earlier, the order is about by JD Vance Vice President liable for reviewing the museum content and gives the internal secretary Doug Burgum the right to examine whether any monuments have been removed or modified “to consolidate a false reconstruction of America’s history.” In other words, direct effort is to rewrite history to match the president’s narrative – one which removes the influence of racism and black contribution to the nation.

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In 2017, at the starting of his first term, Trump actually praised the African American Museum and culture, saying that “he was deeply proud, that there is now a museum that honors millions of African Americans and women who built our national heritage.” Now he conducts the effort to undermine the institution itself, which he once called the treasure. But historians and black leaders don’t withdraw. As Clarke put it: “Let’s be a bright, black story is America’s story. Every rhetoric that opposes this concept is not only incorrect, but grossly racist.”

Historians, supporters of civil rights and black political leaders shouldn’t have this. Here’s what that they had to say about the latest attempt to whiten history.

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Politics and Current

HHS Secretary HHS RFK JR. Fluoring in water can worsen health differences for black Americans

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The United States of the Secretary for Health and Social Welfare, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., reversed the tenth anniversary CDC guidelines to recommend water fluoridation. The position applies to public health experts who claim that practice has reduced the occurrence of oral disease.

Kennedy, who has long been a skeptic of fluoride safety in the water, announced on Monday that he would order CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) to stop the advisory advice for countries about water fluoridation, fulfilling the promise he made after the election of President Donald Trump in November last yr. On the identical day, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it will start reviewing “new scientific information” on the potential health threats of fluoride in drinking water, in keeping with the Associated Press. The Federal Agency is responsible for determining the utmost allowed fluoride level in public water systems.

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As the perfect health secretary in the country, Kennedy doesn’t have the best to force states to stop the fluorisation of drinking water, but taking a step to order CDC reversal in this matter could have a major impact. . CDC Earlier he said that fluorine in drinking water strengthens tooth health and reduces the niches, replacing minerals lost over time for normal consumption.

The federal government has supported Water fluorization from 1950 and started to find out the rules on how much fluoride needs to be added to drinking water in 1962.

Public health experts questioned that there’s a threat to the health of fluoride in drinking water, especially considering the fluoride level allowed for 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water. Revelation of recommendations and potentially reduction or elimination of water fluoridation concerns a very negative impact on health supporters who’re afraid of black and brown communities.

The Jamiya Williams and Terrance Carter sink is slowly crammed with water when washing dishes in its apartment on September 1, 2022 in Jackson, Mississippi. Water pressure increased in their apartment on Wednesday; However, the water remains to be dangerous to drink. (Photo Brad Vest/Getty Images)

King said that eliminating the usage of fluoride in drinking water, combined with a disproportionate lack of access to healthcare, may prove harmful to black and brown American children and adults.

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“These populations are particularly threatened due to the limitation of dental insurance, and the lack of available dental suppliers. The increased incidence of the dental recess and the occurrence of expensive conditions that can be prevented can be the result,” he explained.

Scientific data show that the differences in the health of the oral cavity amongst black children have existed for years, despite the intervention of public fluoridation of drinking water in their communities. According to Study from the National Institutes of Health“Although the availability of insurance has increased, research indicates that it remains unused by the African American community.”

The claim of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

There are also other aspects that could be available apart from access to insurance and care. “Socio-cultural factors also affect the way African Americans experience oral health, from the patient’s relationship with the value determined on the health of the oral cavity,” notes the NIH study. “African Americans have a fragile history with the medical community, and sometimes they show evidence of distrust for doctors. This distrust can lead to the avoidance of African Americans.”

Without the intervention of fluoridation, public health experts are afraid that the health of the Black Americans may worsen.

Administrator EPA Lee Zeldin praised Kennedy’s move about water fluoridation and said that the brand new review of the agency would inform her “future steps”.

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“Secretary Kennedy has long been at the forefront of this problem. His spokeswoman played a key role in our decision to review the threats associated with exposure to fluorine, and we are involved in cooperation with him, using solid sciences when we develop our mission of human health and the environment,” he said.

Watch: why the US made little progress in improving the health of Black Americans

(Tagstranslate) Robert F. Kennedy JR (T) Trump administration

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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