sanjay weaver also inexplicably called someone who was not with c.j.crime as an ally witness. it all made c.j. look guilty. we can't ask sanjay weaver about any of this. she passed away in 2019. c.j. was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. >> if there were a new trial and some of these things were addressed, the jury would have a hard time not having a reasonable doubt. >> reporter: c.j.'s new attorney applied for conviction relief in county court, arguing that c.j. rice had ineffective counsel. but the same judge who had presided over c.j. rice's trial heard the appeal and he rejected it. c.j. rice's story, which i tell in the new issue of "the atlantic" magazine is important because of how unusual it is not. a poor kid with no means and an incompetent, court appointed lawyer. the assembly of a criminal justice system not focused on justice. my father continues to support and exchange letters with j.c. rice in prison. c.j.'s mom holds on to memories and holds on to hope that he will one day be free in someone in power seeks to right what she sees a

and so this attorney sanjay weaver, she could have moved to have c.j.' about why three times the night of the shooting she wasn't able to identify the shooter. she didn't question the cops as to whether they suggested in any way in the photo lineup. there are so many ways she failed. anybody who had seen an episode of "law & order" could have provided a better defense than she did. in philadelphia and in pennsylvania, that's not enough for a case to be even reviewed. >> wow. you, i know, spent a couple of years working on this story and investigating the case yourself. two of the victims originally said they couldn't identify either gunman, but after multiple interviews with police, one of them identified rice. has that person spoken publicly in the years since? >> we have reached out to her a number of times and, look, my heart goes out to her. she and her family were victims of a horrible crime. they were shot. though thankfully nobody was seriously injured. she is not -- she's a victim here, but my point is there is a preponderance of reasonable doubt

the codefendant whose alibi witnesses told their stories to the police long before the trial, sanjay weaveri witness to give a statement. so on the stand, the prosecutor turned weavers incompetence into evidence of him lying. asking the witness quote, today is the first day that you got in front of anybody other than the defense attorney and told them about where c. j. was? sunday weaver also inexplicably called someone who is not with c. j. at the time of the crime as an alibi witness. it all made c. j. look guilty. we can't ask sanjay weaver about any of this, she passed away in 2019. c. j.'s codefendant was acquitted, c. j. was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. >> if there was a new trial and some of these things were addressed, the jury would have a hard time not having reasonable doubt. >> c. j.'s new attorney, jason applied for conviction relief in county court, arguing that cj rice had ineffective counsel. the same judge who had presided over c. j. rice's trial heard the appeal and he rejected it. see derisive story, which i tell in the new issue of the atlantic magazine, is imp

and then because sanjay weaver was such an incompetent attorney, c.j.'as found guilty and sentenced to 30 to 60 years for attempted murder. nobody was even seriously injured in the shooting much less killed but he's now in prison and my dad has been trying to get the appeals process going and the like but the just dicial system in our country protects itself. it's very difficult to get anything overturned especially for the basic idea he did not have adequate counsel because in this country, the sixth am amendment is a joke. you can be a drunk. you can be asleep. you can be mentally incompetent or disbarred and our just d terrible system does not consider you to be inadequate. that's when he asked if i would examine what happened and investigate. >> a step by step as you read through this starting with the identification of him, the photo array, the officers who knew who they want the to be identified are the people at that time who were showing the photograph to the eyewitness and you go on and on and all of the landmarks in this case just did not serve

court-appointed attorneys, 80% of people get court appointed attorneys and sanjay weaver was an incompetent basic things that should come out in trial did not come out in trial. nobody was able to identify him. three different people were asked, do you know who shot you, nobody did it. and then a confidential informant comes up, saying one person cj did it. but the fact that not a witness was able to identify cj three previous times that wasn't brought up in trial. the lawyer didn't know. i don't think she visited the crime scene. she didn't know basic facts about the case. that's what passes for legal representation in this country. that's okay with our system. it's okay with our system. you can be a drunk attorney, a disbarred attorney, you can sleep through part of the trial and courts say it's good enough. >> we have to let you go, i know, but where is the case right now? >> there's an attorney trying to get him out. but truly the only thing that can happen now is the district attorney in philadelphia or people on the parole board in pennsylvania, including the lieutenant governor, john