Rapper must await retrial in jail

Rapper C-Murder had three top 10 solo albums in the US

US rapper C-Murder has been denied temporary release from prison as he awaits a new murder trial.

C-Murder, real name Corey Miller, was sentenced to life in prison for the second-degree murder of Steve Thomas, 16, at a Louisiana nightclub in 2002.

He was granted a new trial after judge Martha Sassone said prosecutors withheld information about witnesses - but she refused to release him on bond.

C-Murder, 33, had three top 10 solo albums in the US chart from 1998.

Extra charges

Steve Thomas was beaten and fatally shot outside the Platinum Club in the town of Harvey, where he had taken part in a rapping contest.

C-Murder was found guilty of the offence in October 2003, a conviction carrying a mandatory life sentence in the state.

Judge Sassone refused to release the rapper on bail because three extra charges have been brought against him since his arrest in 2001.

C-Murder was charged with attempted first-degree murder and a weapons offence, after allegedly trying to shoot a nightclub owner in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

He also faces a charge of battery on a prison guard for an alleged attack inside Jefferson Parish jail, also in Louisiana.