Waymond Anderson

A state prison inmate who once implicated a Los Angeles police officer in the slaying of rap star Biggie Smalls testified Thursday that he recanted the allegation because of threats he received from a rival rap producer that were passed to him by a former Los Angeles Times reporter. Waymond "Suave" Anderson, a former R&B singer, said reporter Chuck Philips passed him several written messages wrapped in plastic at Corcoran State Prison on behalf of rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight.

A state prison inmate who inserted himself into the decade-old mystery surrounding the slaying of rap star Biggie Smalls with conflicting claims about who was behind the killing lost his bid to overturn his own murder conviction Wednesday when a judge ruled that his alibi was "entirely unbelievable." Waymond Anderson, 43, contended that he was wrongly convicted of a 1993 arson murder in South Los Angeles because he was in Mississippi at the time of the killing.

He was an R&B singer who had scored a nationwide hit with "My Girl." He performed around the country, drove luxury sedans and owned a palatial home in Calabasas. Then, suddenly, Waymond Anderson was an accused murderer. Police in bulletproof vests surrounded his black Mustang on Jan. 29, 1994, and handcuffed him as his wife and 6-year-old son watched.

The California Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered prosecutors to refute new evidence that shows R&B singer Waymond Anderson is not guilty of murder or release him from prison, where he has spent 13 years for the arson death of a drug addict. The entertainer known as Suave was sentenced to life in prison without parole for first-degree murder following the 1993 fire near the USC campus.

The Los Angeles district attorney's office on Friday opposed a habeas corpus petition seeking the release of a one-time R&B star who contends he was wrongly convicted of a 1993 arson murder. In an 82-page court filing, prosecutors attacked nearly every aspect of Waymond "Suave" Anderson's petition, asserting that he fabricated an alibi and that the evidence against him remains "overwhelming."