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Kim Kardashian Advocates For Release Of Rapper Convicted Of Murdering Teen Fan
An attorney who represented the family of victim Steve Thomas said he is convinced "beyond any shadow of a doubt" that Corey Miller is responsible for the 16-year-old's death.
Kim Kardashian West is pushing for a new look at the case against a rapper convicted of killing a teenage fan at a nightclub in 2002.
Corey Miller, who performs under the name C-Murder, was convicted of murdering 16-year-old Steve Thomas by a non-unanimous Louisiana jury in 2009. He has maintained his innocence in the case and two of the prosecution's witnesses have recanted their testimony following his conviction, according to ABC News.
"The jury convicted Corey 10-2 and he was sentenced ... to life in prison. If his trial was today, the jury would have had to be unanimous for him to be convicted," Kardashian said in a Twitter thread advocating for Miller's release.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this year in Ramos v. Louisiana that non-unanimous jury verdicts violate the rights granted by the Sixth Amendment.
Before that decision, only Louisiana and Oregon had allowed non-unanimous verdicts in criminal cases and Louisiana voters had already voted to overturn non-unanimous verdicts in 2019, according to the Associated Press.
Kardashian, the host of the Oxygen series "Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project," is an outspoken advocate for prison reform and clemency for prisoners like Alice Johnson, a nonviolent offender who was released from prison after Kardashian successfully petitioned President Donald Trump for her release.
The Supreme Court is currently considering another case that would decide whether to toss out non-unanimous verdicts retroactively, which could mean new trials for more than 1,300 prisoners in Louisiana, according to NOLA.com.
Advocates for Thomas' family criticized Kardashian's public push in support of Miller.
“My take on Kim Kardashian is I think she’s probably well-intentioned. I don’t think she has any malicious intent or anything toward my clients, but I think she is missing a lot of the facts about this case," attorney Trey Mustian told ABC News. “I sat through both criminal trials as did my clients and I am convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt that he [Miller] killed Steve Thomas."
Kardashian acknowledged Thomas' family in her Twitter thread:
"My heart goes out to the family of Steve Thomas. I can only imagine how hard this is and my intention is never to open up this painful wound but to help find the truth behind this tragedy," Kardashian wrote on Twitter.
