A key witness against Corey "C-Murder" Miller changed his story Tuesday (June 26), swearing he lied when he testified that the rapper shot and killed a teenaged fan 16 years ago at a Harvey nightclub. With Kenneth Jordan recanting, Miller asked a judge to throw out his murder conviction.
"I know that the individual who I saw shoot the gun was not Corey Miller," Jordan, 35, said in an affidavit filed in 24th Judicial District Court records.
Miller's attorney, Paul Barker, and Jordan, allege the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office detectives and prosecutors of knowingly forced Jordan to make false statements, by threatening him with criminal charges in another matter.
"He was really their star witness at the second trial. Without him, him they don't get a conviction," said Barker, who filed the memorandum seeking a new trial for Miller.
The Sheriff's Office and the district attorney's office would not comment on the case.
Teen attacked
Miller, younger brother of New Orleans rap mogul Percy "Master P" Miller, is serving a life sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. A jury voted 10-2 to convicted him on Aug. 11, 2009, in the death of Steven Thomas, 16.
Thomas had used another person's identification card to make his way into the now-closed Platinum Club on the night of Jan. 12, 2002. A group of men attacked and beat him as he stepped off the stage. Thomas was then shot inside inside the club. Detectives arrested Miller booked Miller with Thomas' killing six days later.
In the new affidavit, Jordan said Sheriff's Office detectives arrested him a a year later, on Jan. 20, 2003, in connection with the death of his newborn daughter. The infant's mother eventually was convicted of manslaughter in the baby's death.
But she was only 16 years old when the child was born, according to court records, and detectives told Jordan he faced a possible felony carnal knowledge charge with a 10-year sentence for having sex with her. The age of consent in Louisiana is 17.
Jordan had been in the Platinum Club on the night Thomas was killed, and authorities offered him leniency if he provided a statement implicating Miller in the murder, Jordan said in the affidavit. "I was distraught and scared," Jordan said, adding that he felt pressured to lie.
Investigators obtained the statement implicating Miller and never moved to charge Jordan with carnal knowledge, Barker said.
Jordan was not called to testify in Miller's first trial, in 2003. A jury unanimously convicted the rapper of second-degree murder, but a judge threw out the conviction, ruling that prosecutors had withheld information about witnesses in the case.
Second trial
About two weeks before Miller's second trial, in 2009, authorities tracked Jordan down in Atlanta and took him into custody on a material witness bond. Jordan then told authorities his 2003 statement wasn't true, according to his new affidavit and Barker, but detectives and prosecutors forced him to testify, telling him was too late because his statement was "already in black and white," Barker said.
In the second trial, Jordan took the witness stand and fingered Miller. He said Miller shot Thomas on the floor of the Platinum Club as the teen fought for his life against several other men.
"After the fight was over," Jordan testified in 2009, "C-Murder stood over him and shot him. It popped my ears. It made my ears ring. That's how close I was to the gun."
A second witness, club bouncer Darnell Jordan, also testified that C-Murder was Thomas' killer. The bouncer, who is not related to Kenneth Jordan, told the court he didn't see a gun in Miller's hand but saw a muzzle flash at the end of Miller's arm, which was pointed at Thomas on the ground, according to testimony from the 2009 case.
Ron Rakosky, Miller's defense attorney during both trials, cross-examined Kenneth Jordan in 2009. At the time, Kenneth Jordan admitted a "contract" with the district attorney's office to testify against Miller. Jordan also testified that the Sheriff's Office declined to arrest him on the carnal knowledge charge, in order to secure his testimony. Jordan told Rakosky that he wanted to "do the right thing" in testifying about the shooting.
TV show
Both Kenneth Jordan and Darnell Jordan are to appear in an episode of the Investigation Discovery true-crime television show "Reasonable Doubt" about Miller's case, Barker said. Kenneth Jordan will discuss his false testimony and alleged coercion on the show, set to air Wednesday at 9 p.m. central time.
Barker has been representing Miller since December, about a year after Miller's most recent appeal for post-conviction relief was denied by the Louisiana Supreme Court.
The attorney had been searching for Kenneth Jordan for some time without success. But "Reasonable Doubt" producers found him in the New Orleans area, and Kenneth Jordan said he's been living with 10 years of guilt about the false testimony in Miller's case, Barker said.
Miller's family told Barker about Kenneth Jordan's admission. Barker found Jordan, who was ready to come forward with his changed story.
Now that Jordan's affidavit has been filed, the judge presiding over the case may either grant the request to thrown out Miller's conviction, deny it or order a hearing on the matter, Barker said.
Miller, who has always proclaimed his innocence in Thomas' death, was relieved to hear about Jordan. "He was elated," Barker said of his client, who could never understand how he became the focus of the shooting investigation.
The imprisoned rapper is cautiously optimistic, aware that almost anything could happen at this point. "But this is a huge start," Barker said.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the last name of Corey Miller's attorney, Paul Barker.
