Testimony Backs Claims by Rapper

A key witness in the Snoop Doggy Dogg murder trial testified Wednesday that the victim reached for his waistband, where he had tucked a gun, before he was fatally shot.

Under the persistent prodding of defense attorneys, Dushaun Joseph told jurors that he saw his friend, Philip Woldemariam, “mess with his pants” moments before the rapper’s former bodyguard opened fire.

Joseph’s testimony is critical to the defense because attorneys say it bolsters their contention that bodyguard McKinley Lee shot Woldemariam in self-defense after a confrontation in a Palms park on Aug. 25, 1993. Both Lee and the rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, have been charged with murder in connection with the incident. The two men remain free on bail.

On the stand for four grueling days, Joseph testified that he, Woldemariam and Jason London got into a confrontation over gang loyalties with a group of people outside the rapper’s apartment and were chased down by a black Jeep Cherokee, which prosecutors say was driven by Broadus.

Joseph said that after the Jeep stopped following them, they retreated to Woodbine Park to eat takeout food and meet some “homies”--members of their gang, the By Yerself Hustlers.

Shortly after he and his friends sat down, they noticed the Jeep slowly cruising around the perimeter of the park, Joseph said.

Woldemariam stood up on the park bench, threw his hands in the air and yelled, “What’s up?”--a term that is considered a challenge among gang members, Joseph said under questioning by defense attorney Donald Re.

“It’s like, ‘If you are going to do something, then do it,’ ” Joseph said.

Joseph said Woldemariam--with a .380 stuffed in his waistband--walked toward the Jeep, leaned against a pole and started to argue with someone in the back seat.

He said Woldemariam then stood up quickly, as if he had “seen something,” and reached for his waistband. Joseph said he saw Lee pull out his gun and shoot.

Joseph testified that Woldemariam and Lee went for their guns “simultaneously.” But he acknowledged that he testified on previous occasions that Woldemariam went for his gun first.

Reminding Joseph of his grand jury testimony, Re said: “You saw Phil go for his gun and you knew the guy in the Jeep was going to shoot in what you called self-defense?”

“Yes, that’s what I said,” Joseph said.

He testified that he had been mistaken about Woldemariam reaching for the gun first.

“You mean you lied?” defense attorney David Kenner asked him.

“No, I made a mistake,” he said, adding that his memory became clearer after going over the event so many times before the jury.

His voice weary from hours of testifying, he added: “It all happened at the same time. I don’t know.”

Under questioning by the prosecution, Joseph said he never saw Woldemariam pull out the weapon, which he said he and London removed from Woldemariam’s waistband as he lay dying in a nearby carport.

Joseph said he hid the gun--which he claimed belonged to him--in part because he didn’t want police to find out it was stolen and because he thought it would improve the chances of getting murder convictions against Broadus and Lee.

Joseph said he decided to tell the truth about the weapon after London told him that he was going to tell the grand jury about the gun.