(AllHipHop News) Lawyers for Corey “C-Murder” Miller were in court yesterday (October 5th), where they appeared before appeals court judges to argue that the incarcerated rapper deserves a new trial.
Corey Miller is serving a life sentence, after being convicted twice, for the January 2002 death of a 16-year-old named Steven Thomas.
Thomas had snuck into a now defunct nightclub named “Platinum Club” in Harvey, Louisiana, when he become involved in a dispute and was severely beaten and then shot, inside of the club.
After a controversial trial, Miller was convicted of second-degree murder related to Thomas’s death.
In 2003, the conviction was overturned, after it was learned that prosecutors for the state had expunged the criminal records of some of their witnesses, in order to boost their credibility on the stand.
C-Murder was briefly released from prison on over $500,000 bail, while prosecutors appealed the case.
In August of 2009, C-Murder was tried for a second time. He was eventually convicted, although that trial ended in controversy as well.
Immediately after deliberations, one of the jurors claimed that she voted to convict Miller of 2nd degree murder, under pressure from other jurors.
The woman said she only voted to convict Miller to end the deliberations, but believed the rap star was innocent of the crime against him.
A team of Harvard and New Orleans attorneys have signed on to represent Miller voluntarily, since he has exhausted his funds fighting the two trials, and two appeals.
Miller’s new attorneys claim that he was convicted unjustly, that there was no DNA, no fingerprints, no ballistics or even testing for gunshot residue.
“Not one piece of physical evidence directly linking Corey Miller to the shooting,” lawyers explained to a judge in their appeal. “The irreconcilable tales of two flip-flopping, deal-driven and reluctant (to testify) witnesses is the only evidence propping up the state’s case.”
The rapper, who is the younger brother of hip-hop mogul Percy “Master P.” Miller, has released eight albums during the course of his rap career, and has recorded with artists like Snoop Dogg, Fat Joe, UGK, Jermaine Dupri, Bone and others.
“Of course I hate it, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do,” C-Murder told AllHipHop.com. ““Life is short and the time you waste in jail can never be replaced. “I’m asking you guys to take heed to my situation and better yourselves to live a positive and productive life.”