C-Murder Second Murder Trial Set For September

Corey "C-Murder" Miller is about to go through it again. A judge in Gretna, Louisiana set a date for the second murder trial for the rapper for September 12, 2005. Miller was convicted last September for the shooting death of 16-year-old Steve Thomas, 16, in 2002. He was never sentenced due to allegations that the […]

Corey "C-Murder" Miller is about to go

through it again. A judge in Gretna, Louisiana set a date for the second murder

trial for the rapper for September 12, 2005.

Miller was convicted last September for the shooting death of 16-year-old Steve

Thomas, 16, in 2002.

He was never sentenced due to allegations that

the prosecution withheld evidence. Miller faces a mandatory life sentence, should

he be found guilty.

Thomas was shot after the two allegedly had a

confrontation in a now defunct Jefferson Parish nightclub.

While nine defense witnesses testified that Miller

had nothing to do with the shooting or the beating, in some cases they gave

conflicting testimony.

Two witnesses produced by the prosecution, one

a security guard for the club, testified that they both saw Miller and friends

assault the teenager.

One of the witnesses said that she did not actually

see Miller holding the gun, but saw sparks from a gun where Miller’s hand would

have been.

When the jury convicted him, his family immediately

responded and said they would fight the decision, with Master P. claiming that

the local system was corrupt.

"The whole system there is corrupt, but

I think the Judge (Martha Sassone) wants it to change." Miller told AllHipHop.com

Sassone granted the retrial. "There are so many witnesses that said C didn’t

do this. Look at what the D.A. has done, clearing records and that kind of thing.

Everyone assumed he was guilty but people testified he didn’t do it. Now he’s

sitting there incarcerated and we believe he’s innocent."

One of the key arguments for the defense’s motion

for a retrial, was the revelation that local detectives cleared a prosecution

witness’ parking tickets and an arrest warrant for felony theft charges.

In December, Miller’s attorneys produced a key

prosecution witness that said she did not see Miller shoot Thomas and witnessed

another man with a gun before the shooting.

The woman testified under oath that she stood

on a chair and witnessed Miller beating Thomas but fell and did not witness

the shooting.

She said moments before the shooting, she witnessed

another man known as "Calliope Slim" with a gun. The woman claimed

that she told Jefferson Parish detectives before the trial, but didn’t reveal

the information during the trial because no one asked her.

Yesterday, Miller pleaded innocent to the charges,

as he at the outset of the first trial.