Rapper Pleads Not Guilty to Murder Charge : Court: Snoop Doggy Dogg and two other men are arraigned in a Westside shooting. The recording star’s lawyer says he will claim self-defense if the case goes to trial.

Gangsta rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg, whose “Doggystyle” is the nation’s hottest-selling album, pleaded not guilty Friday to murder, as did two other men facing the same charge in a Westside shooting last summer.

The rapper, whose birth name is Calvin Broadus, stood silent through most of a five-minute hearing before Superior Court Judge Lance Ito. Broadus, free on $1 million bail, would not comment as he left the courthouse with his lawyer, surrounded by bodyguards.

The courtroom was packed with reporters, cameras and fans.

“I don’t think it’s true,” one fan said of the murder charge.

Other fans who found themselves face to face with the rapper in a courthouse hallway squealed, shouted his name and offered words of support.

At one point, crushed into a courthouse elevator surrounded by cameras and shouting reporters, Broadus turned his face to the wall and began singing softly to himself. He wore a hooded Fisk University sweat shirt with a patch on the arm that said “African American College Alliance.”

A pretrial hearing on the murder charge for Broadus and the two other men is scheduled for Jan. 20.

The 22-year-old rapper is accused of driving a vehicle on Aug. 25 in the Palms area of the Westside from which his bodyguard, McKinley Lee, also 22, shot and killed Philip Woldermariam. The third defendant, Shawn Abrams, 23, is accused of having been in the vehicle and helping Broadus and Lee track down Woldermariam.

A prosecutor said Broadus and Woldermariam are listed in police files as gang members and that the shooting is considered gang-related. Broadus has said he ended his involvement in gang activity while in high school in Long Beach.

Broadus’ lawyer, David Kenner, said after the arraignment that he will argue self-defense if the case goes to trial. The lawyer contended that Woldermariam was reaching for a gun in his waistband when Lee shot him.

Kenner also asserted that Woldermariam had been stalking Broadus earlier this year and that on one occasion he put a gun to the rapper’s head and threatened to kill him. Broadus and his friends happened to be driving by the park when they saw Woldermariam, Kenner said.

He also accused the prosecution of trying to put rap music on trial by charging Broadus with murder, an allegation Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Nison called absurd.

“The only thing unusual about this case is the media is here,” Nison said.

Nison said Woldermariam had had a verbal confrontation with Broadus in front of Broadus’ apartment building in Palms as little as an hour before the shooting and that Woldermariam might have been armed. But, the prosecutor said, the people in the vehicle hunted Woldermariam down and provoked the fatal incident.

Kenner has provided no evidence that Broadus had been stalked, Nison said.

Like Broadus, Lee is free on $1 million bail. Abrams is free on $200,000 bail.

In addition to the murder count, Broadus is charged with violating rules that prohibit a felon from having guns.

Broadus was convicted three years ago of possessing drugs for sale and served a probation term that ended in the spring. This summer, he was twice found near guns that police said were his, Nison said.

On one occasion, his girlfriend had the gun, according to Kenner, and on the other, a gun was in a car in which Broadus was traveling.

Kenner said that after the second incident, Broadus went to the Long Beach Police Department and complained that he needed protection. Police agreed and told him, the lawyer said, to hire a bodyguard.

Nison said that version of what happened “is not completely true,” but would not elaborate.

Broadus, a graduate of Long Beach Polytechnic High School, has been a rising figure on the music scene since he began collaborating with fellow rapper Dr. Dre a few years ago. Broadus wrote most of the lyrics and was a featured soloist on Dr. Dre’s recent hit album “The Chronic.”

“Doggystyle,” Broadus’ first solo album, has reaped $15 million in sales and has dominated the charts since its release two weeks ago. The talk among record industry insiders has been that the murder charge may have enhanced sales, but Friday, Broadus’ lawyer disputed that.

“I don’t think Snoop needs any help from any charges,” Kenner said.

Times correspondent Chuck Philips contributed to this story.