On December 15, 2025, Chris Powell was released from prison after spending nearly two decades wrongfully incarcerated for a shooting he had nothing to do with. Mr. Powell was a 17 year old high school student when he was wrongfully arrested with three other innocent people. He has always proclaimed his innocence. Today, at the age of 37, he finally received justice.
Chris Powell is the third person exonerated in this case that was built on a single tainted eyewitness identification.
On January 28, 2006, a shooting in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion community left a six-year boy gravely injured. The police accused Chris Powell of being present when a group of people opened fire on a vehicle where the child was a passenger. The Commonwealth never alleged that Mr. Powell was one of the shooters. His arrest was based on a single eyewitness who did not name him initially, and said that she saw Chris go into a house just before the shooting. Despite this, Chris and two of his codefendants, Donte Rollins and Raheem Collins, were convicted of attempted murder and other charges in December of 2007. A fourth codefendant, Kevin Norris, age 26, was acquitted by the same jury. Mr. Powell received a virtual life sentence of 62.5 to 125 years in prison. Rollins and Collins received similar lengthy sentences.
In December 2016, cracks in the already shaky case appeared when Donte Rollins was exonerated. Video footage, witnesses, receipts, and cell phone records proved that Mr. Rollins was miles away shopping when the shooting occurred. Based on this evidence, a panel of three appellate judges ordered Mr. Rollins’ immediate release. This powerful new evidence decimated the sole eyewitness account placing any of the defendants on the corner where the shooting occurred.
Donte Rollins was freed. Yet Chris Powell and Raheem Collins remained in prison. It would take almost 7 more years until Raheem Collins was exonerated in 2023, after the sole eyewitness recanted her testimony. During that hearing, the eyewitness also testified that Chris Powell was not on the corner at the time of the shooting. Based on the complete lack of evidence against him, on December 12, 2025 Mr. Powell’s convictions were vacated and Judge Zac Shaffer ordered his released from prison. Today, the Commonwealth dismissed all charges against Mr. Powell, completing the exoneration of Mr. Powell and ending a twenty-year saga resulting in the wrongful convictions of three people.
In January 2006, Chris Powell entered prison as a child. He was the youngest of his co-exonerees and yet he served the longest term. Police misconduct and a rush to judgement led to a tainted case that took 20 years from Mr. Powell. From the age of 17 to 37, Mr. Powell was forced to grow up in a prison cell. Years when most people are creating their future, building careers, and starting families. Today, Chris Powell is finally reunited with his family and is starting on the road to rebuilding the life that was taken from him.