Associated Press
ANGOLA, La. — Authorities in Louisiana believe rapper C-Murder recorded and released a rap song while in prison.
The Advocate reports that the rapper, who real name is Corey Miller, released a video for a new single, “Dear Supreme Court,” last week.
The rapper is serving a life sentence at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for killing a 16-year-old in a nightclub in 2002.
The video for “Dear Supreme Court/Under Pressure” features an actor in a red baseball cap and sunglasses playing Miller in partial close-ups. Other than a quick exterior of a penitentiary, the setting is a cell, though it’s actually just a set.
The Louisiana Department of Corrections began looking into how Miller managed to record material from behind bars in January, when reports of a new album first surfaced, spokeswoman Pam Laborde said Tuesday.
Miller was questioned by prison officials and claimed not to have recorded anything while at Angola. He insisted that any material released by his record company was recorded before he was incarcerated, Laborde said.
In the lyrics and video for “Dear Supreme Court” Miller professes his innocence and asks the state’s high court to release him, alleging that his trials were rigged and jurors were paid off. At one point, he imagines that if he were released, he could persuade inner-city criminals to lay down their guns.
The video includes shots of people holding signs in front of the state Supreme Court building that say “Justice” and “Free C. Miller.”
Miller has a formal request for a new trial pending before the Supreme Court. That request, which alleges a juror was pressured to vote to convict him and says two new witnesses will testify that Miller wasn’t involved in the killing, was denied by a state appeals court in late 2015.
Miller was convicted in 2003 for shooting 16-year-old Steve Thomas during a brawl at a Harvey nightclub, but a state district judge ruled prosecutors withheld information about the criminal background of a witness and granted Miller a new trial. He was convicted again by a 10-2 jury verdict in 2009.
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