The Murder of Steve Thomas and The Case Against Rapper C-Murder
I watched an episode of Reasonable Doubt on ID. It’s Season 2, Ep 3 titled ‘The Code.’ Reasonable Doubt is hosted by Chris Anderson, a retired Birmingham police officer and Fatima Silva, a criminal defense attorney. They sit down with family members of the accused who think they’re innocent, and go over leads to determine whether or not Chris and Fatima can help them possibly get out of prison or not.
In Reasonable Doubt, Chris and Fatima sat down with C-Murder’s (also known by his real name Corey Miller) ex-wife and daughter. They went over information such as the witnesses who testified, no evidence being linked to C-Murder, and Chris interviewed the rapper himself over the phone. C-Murder eventually said he didn't know who killed Steve, but that if he did he wouldn’t admit to police who it was due to their being “a code,” and not snitching. At the end of the episode, they told the family that they would hire a private investigator to look into who really killed Steve Thomas. Chris Anderson warned the family that C-Murder might not free himself because he cares about not being a snitch, but that his daughter might be the one to convince him to do the right thing.
This clip is from Reasonable Doubt. In this clip, you will hear how C-Murder says he has to follow “the code,” and Chris is very blunt and honest with him about his family wanting him home.
Now, I will take you into information about C-Murder, the murder and what I think about what Chris and Fatima found out.
Background
Corey Miller “C-Murder” was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on March 9th, 1971. He rose to fame in the 1990’s, and was signed to his brother Master P’s label called No Limit Records. He was also a member of TRU, which is a supergroup inside No Limit Records. He has released nine albums, but his most famous was from 1998 and it’s titled Life or Death.
Corey Miller aka C-Murder
Murder of Steve Thomas
On January 18th, 2002, a 16 year old fan of C-Murder, named Steve Thomas was killed after a fight broke out at a club called Platinum Club in Harvey, Louisiana. Steve was beaten, and eventually was shot.
C-Murder was arrested in the morning on January 19th, for causing a disturbance at the House of Blues in New Orleans.
Steve Thomas
House Arrest
He was indicted for murder on February 28th, 2002. He was soon granted a new trial because the prosecutors had withheld information about the criminal background of a witness.
C-Murder was put on house arrest while waiting for his new trial, and he was allowed to continue to make music and publish his book. He promoted his album called Death Around the Corner.
In 2007, Judge Martha Sassone, the judge in C-Murder’s first trial was defeated by a judge named Ellen Kovach, and she put in a request to have C-Murder return to jail.
However, he was still on house arrest in 2009, but he soon pleaded no contest to two accounts of attempted 2nd degree murder. This was from an incident in 2001 where he fired one shot, but the gun jammed. He was sentenced to 10 years and he had credit for time served already.
I believe the above video is not from the Steve Thomas case, but from the incident in 2001 which is what is says on Wikipedia.
Trial for the murder of Steve Thomas
The trial began on August 5th, 2009. The father of Steve Thomas testified about his son being a fan of C-Murder. Another witness was a bouncer from the Platinum Club, who testified that he saw C-Murder shoot Steve. He appeared on the episode of Reasonable Doubt and said he lied on the stand.
On August 10th, 2009, C-Murder was convicted of 2nd degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison on August 14th, 2009.
Bullying by the Jury?
One of the jurors, who was a 20 year old student, came forward and said she and another juror were “verbally abused” for their decision to wanting to acquit C-Murder. Apparently, she became violently ill and had to rush to the bathroom. However, in December of 2011, his conviction was still upheld.
Other
On June 26th, 2018, a witness named Kenneth Jordan recanted his testimony. He appeared on the Reasonable Doubt episode as well, he said that the detectives told him to testify against C-Murder or he would go to jail for 10 years for his unrelated charges. He said in the episode, he wishes he would have just went to jail, because he lost his family due to what happened. He seemed emotional to me for what he did, and Chris Anderson showed C-Murder’s family a clip of Kenneth saying he was sorry.
Kim Kardashian is also trying to free C-Murder. She heard about this case from Monica, who is a singer and also C-Murder’s ex-girlfriend. She tweeted:
““On January 18, 2002, a tragedy occurred when a young man was killed. The next day Corey Miller was arrested for the murder. The jury convicted Corey 10-2 and he was sentenced him (sic) to life in prison. If his trial was today, the jury would have had to be unanimous for him to be convicted.””
““Since his trial, witnesses have recanted, new evidence of his potential innocence has come to light, and there are claims of jurors being pressured into voting to convict,” . “True justice for the young man requires that the person who actually killed him be held responsible and that Corey Miller he (sic) returned home to his kids.””
Monica and C-Murder
Snoop Dogg, who was also worked with C-Murder is also helping and has also posted pictures on social media.
Snoop Dogg and C-Murder
C-Murder’s Albums
1998: Life or Death
1999: Bossalinie
2000: Trapped in Crime
2001- C-P-3.com
2005- The Truest Shit I Ever Said
2008- Screamin’ 4 Vengeance
2009-2010- Calliope Click Volume 1 & Tomorrow
2013-2016- Ain’t No Heaven in the Pen
April 2016- Penitentiary Chances
FINAL THOUGHTS:
To be honest, I don’t know whether to say if he’s innocent or not, but it seems like they have don’t have a lot of evidence. They have the testimony of some unreliable witnesses, and it’s a shame that the witnesses felt like they had no choice but to testify.
If C-Murder is innocent than I hope he can go back to his family. I hope he does make the right decision to say something about the case if he does know anything. He needs to stop caring so much about the “code” and try to move on with his life. I don’t think anyone would fault him for telling the truth, even though I have no idea what he has been through or the environment he has lived in. The victim, Steve Thomas gets lost in this and he and his family deserve justice as well. If C-Murder did it, than he’s in the right place, if someone else shot Steve, they deserve to be off the street and in prison.
Also, watch Reasonable Doubt, it’s a very good show. It’s emotional too, especially if families don’t get the answers that they want or need.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-Murder
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/kim-kardashian-free-rapper-c-murder-prison
