D.A.: Sailor, 23, killed Cashae Rivers

Eight months after a single bullet claimed the life of 5-year-old Cashae Rivers of Strawberry Mansion, a Common Pleas judge yesterday exonerated Kevin Felder, the man initially charged with her murder.

The district attorney's office announced that Noel Garcia, 23, a sailor stationed at Norfolk, Va., had been arrested and charged with the slaying.

The convoluted urban-crime drama began last Sept. 24, when someone fired at a white Oldsmobile driven by Alisha Corley, 22, on 34th Street near Sergeant.

In the car were Corley's year-old son; her 5-year-old daughter; a 16-year-old relative and an 18-year-old family friend, and Cashae.

, A little girl with a big smile, Cashae was hit in the back with a bullet and died a half-hour later at Temple University Children's Medical Center.

Within days, as public outcry over the slaying reached a fever pitch, it became clear that Cashae's killing was tied to an ongoing drug war between ruthless gangs on 30th and 33rd streets near Huntingdon.

Despite citywide sympathy over Cashae's death, investigators complained that they were being met with indifference from neighbors and even the girl's relatives.

Corley cursed at cops when they arrested Romar Berry, the father of Cashae's younger brother, found to be in possession of an $18,000 crack-cocaine stash.

It also was revealed that Cashae's father, Charles Rivers, 36, was in federal prison for possession of cocaine-based drugs.

But the small bits of information investigators did recover led them to Felder, who allegedly had been involved in a neighborhood shooting minutes before the fatal bullet found Cashae.

Felder surrendered within 48 hours of being identified by police, even though Cashae's relatives maintained his innocence as he turned himself over to police.

"I was 100 percent sure he didn't shoot that baby," said Cashae's uncle, Lawrence Rivers, 33. "He is a good friend of mine. He's in jail for something he didn't do."

The case, which once seemed open-and-shut, ran into problems at a preliminary hearing in December. Three witnesses who initially said they saw Felder at the murder scene recanted on the stand, said William Spade, Felder's attorney.

At the same time, information developed that caused officials to take a second look at the case, said Assistant District Attorney Ed McCann.

By February, McCann said, the new investigation began to pick up speed, pointing detectives in the direction of Garcia.

"We developed evidence that we felt was compelling enough to tie him to the crime," McCann said, declining to elaborate.

Garcia, who joined the Navy in 2002, was on leave the weekend Cashae was killed, McCann said. Felder, McCann said, "was not present" at the time of her slaying.

Despite the change in suspects, the circumstances of Cashae's slaying remain the same - there was a battle between warring factions, and Garcia allegedly "mistakenly" fired into Alisha Corley's car, McCann said.

A homicide detective and naval authorities arrested Garcia on Monday. He was held overnight in a Norfolk county jail, said a Norfolk police spokesperson.

While homicide detectives brought Garcia back to Philadelphia yesterday afternoon, Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner officially exonerated Felder in Courtroom 1108 in the Criminal Justice Center.

"It is a human system," McCann said, referring to the criminal-justice system. "Sometimes mistakes are made. Hopefully [in the future,] people will come forward with credible information from the beginning."

Still, even though he's been cleared of killing a small child - a crime that could have brought a life sentence or the death penalty - Felder, 25, is not free.

He remains behind bars and is due in court next month on charges of attempted murder and weapons violations that date back to last spring.

Lerner described Felder as a "person who was reasonably, but it turns out unjustly, charged with this offense."

Garcia now presumably will face the harsh sentence that once awaited Felder.

And little Cashae Rivers, who started kindergarten at William H. Harrison Elementary and was slain just a few days later, is still awaiting justice.