Corey “C-Murder” Miller has been attempting to get his murder conviction tossed out for the past 14 years. According to legal docs obtained by AllHipHop, Miller’s request has once again been denied, but he’s already filed an appeal. On November 14, U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance denied a habeas petition by Miller’s attorneys, which sought to overturn his 2009 conviction of murdering 16-year-old Steve Thomas. On November 24, Miller and his attorney, Jane Hogan, submitted the necessary paperwork to begin the process.
“NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Petitioner, Corey Miller, appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from the District Court’s decision rendered on November 14, 2023, dismissing Petitioner’s Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus. R. Doc. 14,” the docs read. “Additionally, Petitioner prays that this Court grant him a Certificate of Appealability.”
Miller has been denied multiple times over the years but continues his fight. In 2019, Judge Steven Enright of 24th Judicial District Court determined the recantations of two witnesses in the case weren’t credible enough to overturn Miller’s conviction. Enright ruled Miller didn’t meet the burden of proof for post-conviction relief. Attorney Paul Barker argued Miller’s conviction should be tossed out, or at the very least, he should be granted a new hearing to argue the matter in court.
Despite Barker’s best efforts, Enright wrote the recantations of previous testimony “are highly suspicious” and except in rare circumstances “a new trial should not be granted on the basis of a recantation because it is tantamount to perjury so as to discredit the witness at a later trial.”
Talk of Miller’s high profile case started up again in June 2021 when the true-crime television series Reasonable Doubt did an episode on the much publicized case. During the show, two witnesses provided interviews but ultimately changed their stories even though they filed sworn affidavits on behalf of the incarcerated rapper.
In Judge Vance’s latest ruling, she upheld the state court’s decision. In her 47-page ruling, Vance wrote Miller had the legal burden to “put forth clear and convincing evidence of error in the state courts’ findings of fact, which he has failed to do.”
Miller was tried twice, convicted in 2009 and sentenced to life in prison. Thomas, an aspiring rapper who once had posters of Miller and his brother, Master P, hanging in his room, was shot and killed around 1 a.m. local time inside a club. A security guard named Darnell Jordan later testified he saw 15-20 people assaulting Thomas and a flash from Miller’s hand, presumably from a gunshot. A second witness, Kenneth Jordan, testified that celebrities were allowed to go around metal detectors at the club and identified Miller as the shooter from a photo lineup. Both men’s testimonies were consistent until 2018 when they signed affidavits recanting their identifications and accusing police investigators of pressuring them.
