C-Murder convicted of murder

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- A jury in Louisiana found rapper Corey "C-Murder" Miller guilty of second-degree murder Tuesday in the 2002 shooting death of a teenage fan in a nightclub.

The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported the Jefferson Parish jury, which began its deliberations Monday, voted 10-2 in favor of convicting Miller, 38, in the slaying of Steve Thomas, 16. Miller faces a mandatory life prison term when he is sentenced at a later date.

Thomas, 16, was slain inside the now-closed Platinum Club in Harvey early on Jan. 12, 2002.

"Thank God it's all over," Dolores Thomas, the teen's mother, said. "Now we can rest, and my baby, too."

But Miller's family insisted he is innocent despite the verdict. His sister, Germany Miller, yelled outside the courthouse in Gretna that Jefferson Parish is corrupt, the newspaper said. His grandmother, Maxine Miller, said the jurors "didn't do right."

"Corey did not kill that boy," she said. "I raised all my children in church. They want to treat them like criminals. ..."

Earlier, Judge Hans Liljeberg of the 24th Judicial District Court denied a juror's request to be excused from the deliberations. The judge said the juror slept during deliberations and, when not asleep, quoted Scripture, the newspaper said. Her actions prompted the removal of a Bible from the jury room.

"You are bound to decide this case on law and fact," Liljeberg said.

Miller was found guilty in an earlier trial, but that verdict was thrown out.