Philadelphia rapper Cool C scheduled to die in January for '96 murder

Nov 24, 2014

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed the death warrant for former Philadelphia rapper Cool C, who was involved in a bank robbery and shooting of a police officer in 1996.

The “Glamorous Life” rapper was convicted of first-degree murder after shooting nine-year police veteran Lauretha Vaird in the abdomen as he and two other men tried to rob a bank in the early morning as it opened.

Cool C, born Christopher Roney, has “maintained his innocence to date,” according to Philly.com’s Aubrey Whelan:

At his trial, he and his mother testified that he had been at home cooking breakfast at the time of the robbery. And he has appealed his conviction and his sentence.

Roney released two albums, I Gotta Habit and Life in the Ghetto.

The execution by lethal injection is scheduled for January 8, 2015.