A one-time rapper convicted of shooting and killing a female police officer during a failed bank heist in Philadelphia nearly 20 years ago will be executed in January.

Christopher Roney – aka Cool C - was convicted of first-degree murder for the shooting death of Lauretha Vaird on January 2, 1996.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed an execution warrant for Roney on Friday and he is scheduled to be executed via lethal injection on January 8, 2015.

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Christopher Roney - aka Cool C - was convicted of first-degree murder for the shooting death of Lauretha Vaird on January 2, 1996. He is due to be executed by lethal injection on January 8 2015

Roney, now 44, was found guilty of first-degree murder and other offenses in October 1996 and a death verdict was returned a month later in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, reports NBC10.

On January 2, 1996, around 8:20 a.m., Roney, Ernest Canty and Warren McGlone had attempted to rob a PNC Bank in Philadelphia.

Officer Lauretha Vaird, a nine-year veteran with the 25th District, was the first officer to arrive at the scene.

As she entered the bank, Roney opened fire, shot her in the abdomen, according to officials. He and the other two men then fled the scene as other officers arrived.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, left, signed an execution warrant for Roney on Friday. The rapper was in a group called C.E.B. at the time of the shooting in 1996 he is pictured top left along with Warren McGlone, right, who was involved in the same heist

Vaird, a 43-year-old single mother of two boys, died from her injuries. She was the first Philadelphia female police officer to be killed in the line of duty.

Roney and his two accomplices were arrested after police received statements from eyewitnesses.

He was granted a stay of execution from Pennsylvania Judge Gary Glazer on February 1, 2006 until all post-conviction litigation was resolved.

Roney has maintained his innocence throughout the trial and appeals process, despite the testimony of three eyewitnesses who placed him at the scene of the robbery, as well as ballistic and forensic evidence and surveillance video that linked him to the murder.

Prior to his arrest, Roney had released two solo albums as Cool C I Gotta Habit, in 1989, and Life In The Ghetto, 1990, as well as an album with the hip hop group C.E.B. in 1993. He was best known for his hit song Glamorous Life.

Prior to his arrest, Roney had released two solo albums as Cool C I Gotta Habit, in 1989, and Life In The Ghetto, 1990 and was best known for his hit song Glamorous Life

Roney was recording a comeback EP at the time of Vaird's death. McGlone, who performed under the stage name ‘Steady B was another member of C.E.B. while Canty was also a local hip hop artist.

Aside from Roney, Governor Corbett also signed execution warrants for Mark Duane Edwards, who was convicted of murder in the shooting deaths of a husband, wife and their pregnant teen daughter in 2002 as well as Dennis Reed, who was convicted in the shooting death of his girlfriend and mother of his son in 2001.

The three execution warrants signed Friday were Corbett’s 41st, 42nd and 43rd warrants signed since he took office.