Rapper C-Murder was ordered to remain in jail

Published: Thursday - March 12, 2009
Words by Miles Bennett
Rapper C-Murder was ordered to remain in jail by a Louisiana judge Wednesday (March 11), after he allegedly broke the rules of his house arrest agreement.

According to the Associated Press, State District Judge Hans Liljeberg said he was puzzled by reports that the rapper (real name: Corey Miller) -- who has been on serving house arrest for three years -- had left his grandmother's house for a few minutes at a time on several occasions. He said he did not have that problem with hundreds of others he oversees.

"I don't think it's terribly unjust for the defendant to await trial across the street," Liljeberg said, as he ordered Miller back to jail.

In addition to remaining behind bars, C-Murder's bond was doubled to $1 million. His attorney, Ron Rakosky, did not reveal whether or not the rapper planned to pay the amount.

The rapper is scheduled to begin his second-degree murder trial on April 20, stemming from the shooting death of Steve Thomas, a 16-year-old who was killed during a 2002 brawl at a nightclub in Harvey, La.

C-Murder has been previously released on $500,000 bond, but was prohibited from leaving his grandmother's home.

The AP reports that Sheriff's deputy Mike Dawson testified Wednesday that he had been alerted around 3 a.m. Monday (March 9) by an electronic monitor that indicated he had left the house. When the deputy called the home minutes later, the rapper's fiancé Sabrina Green answered the phone and then handed it to him. While speaking with C-Murder on a portable phone, Dawson said he heard the monitor reacting as it would when Miller re-entered the property.

Despite the testimony, C-Murder's his grandmother, cousin, aunt and fiancé -- who all live with him -- testified that he was in bed sleeping when Dawson called.

His attorney argued that "an equipment malfunction" caused the loss of signal. He said that the rapper took an earlier warning from the judge too seriously to risk leaving his house.

C-Murder went through the same ordeal last month when prosecutors asked the judge to jail him on grounds that he allegedly was out of range five times since October. However, Judge Liljeberg said he was not convinced that the monitoring equipment worked properly and refused to jail him.

This time around, though, he didn't buy it.