Jan. 8 execution date set for rapper in police killing
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A rapper convicted of fatally shooting a Philadelphia police officer is scheduled to be executed Jan. 8.
Gov. Tom Corbett signed a death warrant Friday for Christopher Roney, known as Cool C.
The 44-year-old Roney was convicted of first-degree murder in the Jan. 2, 1996 death of Officer Lauretha Vaird.
Prosecutors say he shot the nine-year police veteran in the abdomen during a bank holdup.
Roney has maintained he’s innocent.
He had two rap hits, “Glamorous Life” in 1989 and “Life in the Ghetto” in 1990.
Corbett also authorized the executions of Mark Duane Edwards on Jan. 13 and Dennis Reed on Jan 15.
Edwards was convicted in the 2002 shooting deaths of a couple and their pregnant teenage daughter.
Reed was convicted of fatally shooting his girlfriend in 2001.