Lawyers Assail Prosecution Case in Rapper’s Trial

Prosecutors in the Snoop Doggy Dogg trial patched together a case based on a conspiracy of two of the victim’s friends to frame the famous rapper and his bodyguard for murder, defense attorneys told jurors in closing arguments Wednesday.

Criticizing the testimony of Dushaun Joseph and Jason London, attorney David Kenner told jurors that the two men “conceded and admitted that they had formulated a plot to convict [the defendants] irrespective of the propriety of the evidence.”

London and Joseph initially told police that Philip Woldemariam was unarmed when he was shot after a confrontation with the rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and bodyguard McKinley Lee at a Palms park Aug. 25, 1993. The two men later acknowledged that they took a weapon from Woldemariam’s waistband to ensure that Broadus and Lee would face murder charges.

Arguing that the shooting was done in self-defense, defense attorney Donald Re said prosecutors were “cutting and pasting” together their case with pieces of testimony and evidence that supported allegations of a drive-by shooting. They dismissed information to the contrary, he said, in an effort to “win at any cost.”

“A week after the event [the detective] was informed that Philip Woldemariam had a gun, but he resisted,” said Re, who represents Lee. “You are supposed to go out and find the facts. You are not supposed to tailor the facts to a preconceived notion.”

Broadus and Lee have been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit assault in connection with the incident at Woodbine Park. Lee is accused of shooting Woldemariam from the passenger seat of a Jeep driven by Broadus. The two men remain free on bail, set at $1 million apiece.

Kenner, who represents Broadus, told jurors that the defense “spent two months at this table wrestling with the prosecution, who has continued to try to put round pegs into square holes to get their witness testimony to fit their case.”

He noted that Joseph testified, although reluctantly, that the gun did not come out of Broadus’ vehicle until Woldemariam appeared to be lifting his shirt to get his weapon.

“Mr. Lee had the space of that,” Kenner said, snapping his fingers, “to decide what to do. . . . I don’t know how long you’d wait.”

He mocked the prosecution’s depiction of Woldemariam as an innocent victim who was trying to quell the conflict, which started after someone flashed a gang sign outside the rapper’s apartment and escalated into the shooting at the park.

“He was the Henry Kissinger of Woodbine Park . . . doing shuttle diplomacy between a picnic table and a Jeep,” Kenner said sarcastically.

He also told jurors that Woldemariam, whom he described as a hotheaded gang member, didn’t have to actually pull the gun from his waistband for it to be a case of self-defense.

“It’s a question of whether or not the person in the vehicle had a good-faith belief that his life or the life of others in the vehicle were in danger,” Kenner said.

He added: “It is Philip Woldemariam’s actions, deeds and words on Aug. 25, 1993, that caused his death, and not that of the defendants.”

Urging jurors not to rely on conflicting testimony, Re detailed for the panel how witnesses saw the Jeep driving in all sorts of directions around the park on the evening of the shooting. Eliciting laughter from the audience, he said: “The surprising thing in all of this is that no one saw Elvis driving around.”

He also urged the jury not to hold it against the defense for calling only one witness. He said attorneys simply didn’t believe that the prosecution had proved its case.

Re is expected to continue his closing arguments today.