Fact Check

President Obama Pardoned Rapper C-Murder?

An article from "Gummy Post" incorrectly stated that convicted rapper C-Murder was pardoned by President Obama on 7 December 2016.

Published Dec. 31, 2016

 (Wikimedia Commons)
Image Via Wikimedia Commons
Claim:
President Obama issued a full pardon for rapper C-Murder.

On 9 December 2016, the web site Gummy Post published an article reporting that President Obama had issued a full pardon for Corey Miller, the rapper better known by his stage name of C-Murder, who is currently serving a life sentence in Louisiana’s Angola prison:

Wrongfully convicted murderer receives huge break off his life sentence, for murdering 16-year-old Steve Thomas with a single gunshot to the chest following an argument at the Platinum Club in Harvey, Louisiana, on January 12, 2002. About 200 people were in the club at the time of the altercation, and several were eyewitnesses to the shooting.

According To the united states department of justice full pardon were granted by President Obama to inmate Corey Miller at Angola State Penitentiary 12.07.2016.

This report appears to have been made up out of the whole cloth.

For starters, the U.S. constitution gives the President the power "to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States" — that is to say, the President may issue pardons to those convicted of federal crimes. But since C-Murder was not convicted of a federal crime, the President has no power to pardon him. If C-Murder were to receive a pardon, it would have to come from the Governor of Louisiana and not from the President of the United States.

The President didn't issue any pardons on 7 December 2016, as claimed by Gummy Post, although he did issue several pardons and commutations on 19 December 2016. A full list of pardons and commutations issued by President Obama is available via the Department of Justice web site, and Corey Miller's name does not appear on that list.

The Gummy Post article was published a few days after a petition was started on Change.org asking the Louisiana Supreme Court to reconsider Miller's appeals and request for a retrial.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.

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