In her latest effort to reform the criminal justice system, Kim Kardashian is seeking the release of New Orleans rapper Corey “C-Murder” Miller, who has maintained his innocence in a 2002 murder.
Miller — the brother of rap superstar Percy “Master P” Miller — was convicted in 2009 and is serving a life sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary for killing a 16-year-old fan, Steve Thomas, in 2002 at a nightclub, WDSU reported.
“The jury convicted Corey 10-2 and he was sentenced him to life in prison. If his trial was today, the jury would have had to be unanimous for him to be convicted,” Kardashian said in a series of tweets Sunday.
“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,” she said in another tweet.
In 2018, two key witnesses recanted their testimonies.
Kenneth Jordan said in a sworn affidavit in June of that year: “I know the individual that I saw shoot the gun was not Corey Miller,” according to WDSU.
Jordan claimed investigators had pressured him to lie under oath, or else he would face a 10-year sentence on unrelated charges, according to the station.
“I’m not gonna lie. These last 16 years have been a definite struggle,” Miller told WDSU the next day.
“I’ve been snatched away from my family, separated from my kids, from my career, everything. And I just want it back. My heart hasn’t smiled since I’ve been locked up for 16 years, and I just want them to know that my heart is smiling,” he told the outlet.
A second witness, Darnell Jordan, later claimed Miller did not kill Thomas, according to a sworn affidavit, in which he said, “C-Murder didn’t do this…I just want to tell the truth & clear my name,” WDSU reported.
Despite the new information, a judge denied a retrial in January 2019.
“True justice for the young man requires that the person who actually killed him be held responsible and that Corey Miller be returned home to his kids,” Kardashian wrote on Twitter.
“My heart goes out to the family of Steve Thomas. I can only imagine how hard this is and my intention is never to open up this painful wound but to help find the truth behind this tragedy,” she added.
Kardashian said she was teaming up with singer Monica, who was dating Miller at the time, to fight for his release.
“Corey deserves to come home to his girls and be the father they need, be the artist & leader he’s always been as well as spread hope to those who have also experienced this,” Monica wrote on Instagram.
On Sunday, a post on the rapper’s Instagram page thanked Monica.
“Moses when they took me I told you go live your life because you didn’t deserve what the system was about to do to me. You still stood for me, without me asking created a team that could change the outcome of a very unfair fate!” the post said.
Kardashian has visited the White House at least twice to implore President Trump to free inmates.
In 2018, she successfully lobbied the president to grant clemency to Alice Marie Johnson, a grandmother who was serving a life sentence without parole for drug offenses.