Prosecutors Refuse Charges Againts Man Accused Of Killing Soulja Slim

Charges against the man accused of murdering New Orleans, Louisiana rapper James "Soulja Slim" Tapp have been refused by prosecutors, who claim there was insufficient evidence to prove the crime. Detectives said Garelle Smith had been paid $10,000 to kill the rapper and claimed that his murder had something to do with the record industry […]

Charges against the man accused of murdering

New Orleans, Louisiana rapper James "Soulja Slim" Tapp have been refused

by prosecutors, who claim there was insufficient evidence to prove the crime.

Detectives said Garelle Smith had been paid $10,000

to kill the rapper and claimed that his murder had something to do with the

record industry and a rival record label.

Prosecutors claim they dropped the murder charges

against Smith as they strengthen their evidence. Smith is still behind bars,

charged with another murder, that took place in December.

When questioned about the murder, police said

they were greeted with silence after Smith allegedly told them "’Take your

best shot. Do whatever you have to do."

Detectives also posthumously accused Tapp of

the murder of Robert Lee Paige Jr., 30, in September. Paige was shot and thrown

into a lagoon, with his body weighted down with cinder blocks.

Third District Police Capt. James Scott said

his department was looking into Tapp as a possible suspect in other shootings

as well.

"We had a known credible witness who came

in and gave us circumstances of the murder which substantiated information that,

through our investigation, only we had," Scott told the The Times-Picayune.

"There would be no other reason for a person to come in and name Soulja

Slim as a perpetrator after the fact. There would be nothing for that person

to gain."

Tapp’s family and close friends denied that he

was Paige’s murderer, saying Tapp was on the verge of super stardom and was

planning to promote a new album.

"That’s just their way of closing their

books," Tapp’s manager, Anthony Murray said. "Nothin’ on the street

was serious enough for him to bother with like that. Nothing that crucial. He

wasn’t on that type of time. He was on artist-type time."