Chris Rock Says He Regrets Not Helping Pay For Lawyer For Wrongfully Convicted Black Man: ‘I Had The Means To Help Him, And I Didn’t’

Chris Rock

Chris Rock Says He Regrets Not Helping Pay For Lawyer For Wrongfully Convicted Black Man: ‘I Had The Means To Help Him, And I Didn’t’

Chris Rock is opening up about a decision from his past that still weighs heavily on him.

During a recent interview with The New York Times’ “The Interview,” the comedian and filmmaker explained why he is cautious about immediately believing accusations against Black men. Rock pointed to the case of Roger Logan, the brother of one of his best friends growing up in Brooklyn, who was wrongfully convicted of m*rder.

Rock recalled Logan’s brother repeatedly asking him to help pay for an attorney. However, Rock said he declined because he had a personal rule against paying legal bills due to how unpredictable the costs could become.

“His brother used to plead with me to pay for a lawyer for Roger, and I never did it. I always had, like, a no lawyer thing, ’cause a lawyer is, like, an open-ended thing.”

Rock explained that he was willing to financially help people in other ways but drew a line when it came to legal expenses. Looking back, he admits he regrets making that decision.

“I had the means to help him, and I didn’t. And I don’t know if we could’ve got him out or not, but still.”

Logan was arrested in 1997 and later convicted of m•rdering 18-year-old Sherwin Gibbons in Brooklyn. He was sentenced to 25 years to life and ultimately spent approximately 17 years behind bars before his conviction was vacated and the charge dismissed in 2014. A reinvestigation found serious problems with the case, including evidence undermining the key eyewitness who identified Logan as the sh00ter. The National Registry of Exonerations lists mistaken witness identification, perjury or false accusation and official misconduct as contributing factors in his wrongful conviction.

Rock connected Logan’s experience to the way he now views allegations against Black men, saying,

“Black men get accused of sh*t they didn’t do all the time.”

He added,

“This sh*t’s real when people get accused of things, and you better be real sure they did it.”