U.S. District Judge Sarah S. Vance upheld C-Murder's murder conviction on Monday in federal court. The decision comes despite two key witnesses recanting their testimony and admitting that their comments implicating the rapper were false. C-Murder was convicted of killing 16-year-old Steve Thomas in 2009. The shooting occurred at the Platinum Club in New Orleans in the early hours of January 12, 2002.
Vance explained her ruling in a 47-page decision, arguing that C-Murder’s lawyers 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.” For now, Murder will continue serving a life sentence for the crime.
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Plenty of celebrities have spoken out in support of freeing C-Murder in the years since his conviction. Kim Kardashian has taken a vocal interest in particular. Back in August, she posted a lengthy statement about working on his case on social media. “Rather than search for the real perpetrator of the crime, the local sheriff’s office zeroed in on proving a case against Mr. Miller. The lead detective harassed multiple witnesses and mishandled the case to such a degree that the trial court had no choice but to grant Mr. Miller a new trial after he was convicted in 2003," she explained. “Louisiana recently enacted a new law that provides innocent people with the ability to raise a post-conviction claim of factual innocence. Mr. Miller has raised such a claim and, like all of his prior post-conviction filings, has been denied relief without even so much as an evidentiary hearing. In light of the fact that the only witnesses have completely recanted their testimony, there is absolutely no remaining evidence against Mr. Miller.”
C-Murder intends to appeal Vance’s decision to a higher federal court. Be on the lookout for further updates on C-Murder's case on HotNewHipHop.
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