Will Rapper C-Murder Beat Murder Charges?

Judge lets rapper promote CD, novel
Murder suspect has gag order relaxed
Friday, March 02, 2007
By Paul Purpura

After hearing the request for the third time, a judge Thursday relaxed her gag order in the case of rapper C-Murder, allowing him to promote an album and a recently released novel he wrote while behind bars.

However, 24th Judicial District Judge Martha Sassone told the rapper, whose real name is Corey Miller, that the rules of his house arrest remain in place, meaning she must approve his visitors, including reporters.

"That will be allowed," Sassone said of the interviews. "But he cannot mention the case. But as it pertains to his livelihood, he will be allowed to do that. . . . He can speak to whomever he likes on the phone insofar as it doesn't relate to this case."

Miller, 35, is awaiting retrial on a second-degree murder charge in the Jan. 12, 2002, death of a fan, Steve Thomas, 16, who was shot in the chest during a brawl in the now-closed Platinum Club in Harvey.

The trial had been set for this week, but with numerous pretrial motions pending, the date was postponed last month during a closed meeting the attorneys had with Sassone. A new trial date has not been set.

In court papers filed last month, Miller's attorneys said Sassone's gag order conflicts with his constitutional right to free speech and expression.

Though Sassone has a "duty" to minimize pretrial publicity, his free speech right cannot be "extinguished" by the gag order, attorneys Ron Rakosky and Robert Glass wrote.

"The current gag order in this case will prevent such non-case related speech and expression, and as such is too broad," they wrote.

Sassone has had a gag order in place for years but issued a written one on June 14, 2006, reminding attorneys and others that it "is in effect preventing all counsel and parties from discussing or divulging any aspects of this case with anyone not a party."

Twice last fall, Sassone rejected Miller's request to promote his latest album through media interviews. She did allow him to be photographed in his grandmother's Kenner home, where he is confined under house arrest.

The third request is the first in which his attorneys raise the constitutional question. Rakosky said Miller faces "severe consequences" in his need to earn money to pay for his legal defense and to support his family.

"I'm asking your honor to relax it," he said of the gag order.

Assistant District Attorney Roger Jordan objected to the request, telling Sassone that her gag order was intended to minimize pretrial publicity, though a change of venue for the trial is likely.

Miller wrote a 263-page cautionary tale of fiction, "Death Around the Corner," under his stage name, C-Murder. He wrote it in jail and mailed the notebooks to family over a two-year period, Miller said in his author's notes.

With Rakosky's help, Miller also recorded an album, which he now seeks to publicize, while in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna. The recording drew the ire of Sheriff Harry Lee, who after learning of it limited what the rapper's attorneys could bring into the parish jail.

That was the local news report from The Times-Picayune. We'll have the street updates shortly, so stay tuned!

To read C-Murders BIO, click here.