Kim Kardashian fighting to get rapper C-Murder released from prison

Reality-TV star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian is speaking out on behalf of a rapper serving a life sentence for murder despite two witness recantations and other post-conviction factors.

"On January 18, 2002 a tragedy occurred when a young man was killed. The next day Corey Miller was arrested for the murder," tweeted Kardashian, 39, on Sunday, referring to Corey "C-Murder" Miller, found guilty of second-degree murder for fatally shooting 16-year-old Steve Thomas during a nightclub brawl in Harvey, Louisiana. "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 wrote.

"Since his trial," she continued, "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. True justice for the young man requires that the person who actually killed him be held responsible and that Corey Miller he returned home to his kids."

In June 2018, Kenneth Jordan, a key eyewitnesses in the 2009 trial, recanted in a sworn affidavit, saying, "I know the individual that I saw shoot the gun was not Corey Miller." Stating police had pressured him to lie under oath in exchange for leniency over unrelated criminal matters, he explained, "I can no longer live with knowing that Corey Miller is sitting in jail for something he did not do because of my fabricated statement."

Days later a second eyewitness, Darnell Jordan, a bouncer in the club where the killing took place, submitted a handwritten letter to the court. "I am certain that Corey Miller did not shoot Steve Thomas," wrote Jordan, no relation to Kenneth Jordan. In an affidavit, Darnell Jordan swore that detectives "got me to ID C-Murder's picture and sign it. They tricked me. I wasn't signing the photo to ID the shooter. I signed it because they told me to."

Additionally, juror Mary Jacob in 2009 told New Orleans newspaper The Times-Picayune that the jury was deadlocked at 9-3 to convict, with 10 votes needed for a guilty verdict under state law. Jacob said she saw 20-year-old fellow juror Geralneigh Bazile being verbally bullied so intensely by others that the young woman became "violently ill. … She was shaking so bad. She ran into the bathroom. She was throwing her guts up. She couldn't function anymore." Jacob said for Bazile's sake she relented and changed her own vote to guilty.

Following Kardashian's tweets, Miller's former girlfriend, R&B singer Monica, 39, wrote on Instagram that after having commiserated with TV personality La La Anthony, "I spoke to @kimkardashian & I explained why I KNEW Corey was innocent … I shared that There are lots of issues in Corey's case that speak to his innocence including witnesses recanting their testimony, dna not matching & a 10-2 jury!"

She added, "I've locked arms with @kimkardashian, [attorneys and criminal-justice reform activists] @jessicajackson, @edyhaney and all those who believe in Corey and are ready to fight to #FreeCoreyMiller."

Miller, 49, has been serving a life sentence in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. In 2018 he was moved to the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel.

"Thank you to everyone praying for me," he said on Instagram on Sunday, adding, "God has not forgotten me & I have now been joined by @kimkardashian @jessicajackson & @edyhaney to continue this Freedom Fight! … Kim you're changing lives of those of us that have been forgotten!"

Kardashian in 2018 had helped secure a commuted sentence for Alice Marie Johnson, a now 63-year-old great-grandmother sentenced to life in prison in 1996 on a drug conviction.