The second witness did a fairly good job re-creating the scene at the platinum club that night, although his credibility was a little sketch.
The night started out with such promise. It was Wild Wayne's Birthday Bash, and everyone was excited. (Aside: if you try to google "Wild Wayne," the person I am referring to is a dj for Hot 102.9, NOT the host of a show called "Rock n' Roll Memory Machine.") The line was long and out the door of the club, but that didn't stop people from hitting the hotspot. If you are interested - here is a picture of the building which used to house the Platinum Club. Some of you who live in New Orleans and went bowling at the rainbow lanes on the westbank might find this familiar -- it is right behind the bowling alley, on the second floor of the building. This picture is post-katrina.
Our eyewitness was standing in line waiting to pay the cover, and get frisked by the metal detectors when he saw C-Murder and his entourage of about 15 people roll in - all adorned with CP3 Hoodies.
Okay, I may have to do some explanation for our readers who are not familiar with the New Orleans housing project lingo. Each housing project basically acted like a gang, and people used to be very territorial about their projects. This doesn't happen so much anymore since most of the projects have been demolished, but back in the day you had places called Desire, the Magnolia ('nolia for short), the Calliope (prononced Ca(long a)ly-ope), and others. Some may have heard "the 'nolia" before, as that is where Juvenile, Lil Wayne, BG, the Hot Boyz all came from. Master P, C-Murder, Silk the Shocker, etc came from the Calliope. People from this housing project eventually shortened the name to CP3 (the 3 standing for the 3rd ward of New Orleans.) In any event, there was a hand symbol which accompanied all of projects (much like Gangs have signs). These symbols were apparently memorialized, and everyone in C-Murder's crew wore hoodies adorned with this symbol.
In case some of you are wondering how I know so much about housing project culture - you should know that I myself hailed from one such gang --- the GD1 (Garden District, 1st Ward...represent). There was some pretty serious turf-warring for a while there, until the shaving cream fight after our 8th grade finals was broken up by the neighborhood private patrol, and we were all sent back to our respective houses to be grounded. But man...for a while there...was it rough.
But I digress. Back to the story. The place was hopping, people were sporting their commemorative housing project hoodies (I suppose it was like the Mount Holyoke dorm hoodie sweatshirts...sort of...) and everyone is out to celebrate ya boy wild wayne's birthday party. That evening there is apparently some sort of rapping contest, and the victim raps on stage. After he is done, he gets in an altercation with the CP3 boys, and they start beating him, stomping him, jumping off tables onto him -- really, really terrible stuff. Let's keep in mind that the victim was only 16 years old at the time of his death. A bouncer named Peanut is trying to stop the fight, but to no avail. Meanwhile, as this is going on, C-Murder is outside of the melee. All of the sudden, as the kid is lying on the ground (again, this is according to the eyewitness), C-Murder walks up, pulls out a gun, and just shoots him. The place erupts into chaos, C-Murder and his crew are the first to flee. Of the approx 300 people who are in the club at the time of the shooting, only 150 remain after the police take control of the scene.
Okay - so the story sounds totally logical and plausible - but is this eyewitness credible? Ehhhhh.
1- he comes forward and gives a statement 1 year after the murder - after it is all over the news that c-murder is arrested for this murder.
2- he does not come forward on his own volition - he is already talking to the police about another crime he is a witness to (won't go into the details of that crime - too depressing). OH - and on this unrelated crime he witnessed, he got a deal from the DA in exchange for his testimony.
3- he has had something like 10 arrests from things ranging from possession of marijuana, to resisting arrest, yet he has basically served no time.
4- after the 4 months he actually did serve in jail for breaking his probation, the District Attorney gets him out, and in exchange, the witness signs a document saying he would testify against c-murder.
5- and probably the most damning piece of evidence at all -- when discussing the party, he said there were many celebrities in attendance. When asked to name the celebrities that were there...he said, "C-Murder" and no one else. I'm sorry, but C-murder hardly qualifies as a celebrity. Celebrities do not go to parties at nightclubs above bowling alleys in Harvey, Louisiana. Celebrities' entourages do not go around wearing home-made matching hoodies. I mean PLEASE. This guy needs to get out more if he thinks C-Murder qualifies as mega-celebrity status.
Now, I didn't see the first eyewitness testify, so maybe I would think differently if I had - but right now (for me at least), there is ample reasonable doubt.
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