According to Associated Press, No Limit Record rapper C-Murder, born Corey Miller, has been denied a retrial in connection to his conviction for the murder of 16-year-old fan Steve Thomas at a nightclub.
Miller, the younger sibling of rapper Master P, is currently serving a life sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola after a jury voted 10-2 to connect him in August of 2009.
The denial comes after two eyewitnesses, Kenneth Jordan and Darnell Jordan, recanted their sworn testimonies. Jordan and Jordan share no relation.
In a sworn affidavit filed in New Orleans’ 24th Judicial District Court, Kenneth Jordan stated he knew that he knew “the individual that I saw shoot the gun was not Corey Miller,” according to records. Jordan also claimed that detectives pressured him to lie under oath, threatening him with criminal charges of his own.
Kenneth Jordan’s affidavit also states he saw another hooded man with a dark complexion shoot Thomas.
“He was really their star witness at the second trial. Without him, him they don’t get a conviction,” said Miller’s attorney Paul Barker.
In a handwritten letter filed with the district court a week after Kenneth’s confession, Darnell told authorities he was “certain that Corey Miller did not shoot Steve Thomas.” Darnell said he had been tricked into testifying against Miller.
Thomas was beaten and shot in January of 2002 during an altercation outside of the now-closed Platinum Club.
According to New Orleans’ The Advocate, Judge Steven Enright ruled that last year’s reactions failed to meet the burden of proof for post-conviction relief.
“A new trial should not be granted on the basis of a recantation,” Enright wrote in his decision, “because it is tantamount to perjury so as to discredit the witness at a later trial.”
According to Enright, Darnell, who was working as a security guard on the night of the shooting, told a detective he saw Miller shoot. Though his story changed in subsequent interviews with investigators, he ultimately returned to his initial account of the night’s events.
“This testimony goes against petitioner’s claim that Darnell Jordan was tricked into testifying as he did,” Enright wrote.
