Prosecution Calls Rapper’s Contention ‘Not Logical’

A prosecutor in the Snoop Doggy Dogg murder trial blasted the defense Thursday, telling jurors to ask themselves this: If the famous rapper and his bodyguard acted in self-defense, why was the victim shot in the back?

“It’s not logical,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Bobby Grace told the jury in the prosecution’s rebuttal argument. “It doesn’t shake out right.”

If the rapper’s bodyguard shot Philip Woldemariam after he went for a gun, as claimed by the defense, then Woldemariam “should have been shot in the chest,” Grace said.

“Maybe the lawyers can convince you that the sky is green and the grass is blue,” he said.

Playing off the lyrics of one of the rapper’s songs--”Murder Was the Case”--Grace added: “Murder is the crime they committed. Murder is the crime they committed. Murder is the crime they committed.”

Grace is expected to complete his closing arguments this morning; then the case will go to the seven-man, five-woman jury.

Jurors have been instructed that they have the option of acquitting the rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and his former bodyguard, McKinley Lee, or convicting them of first-degree murder, second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter in Woldemariam’s Aug. 25, 1993, shooting death.

The two men also have been charged with conspiracy to commit assault, and Broadus has been charged with accessory after the fact. They remain free on bail, set at $1 million apiece.

Attorneys have spent nearly two months in trial dissecting an event that took a matter of seconds.

“This is reminiscent of a drive-by shooting,” Grace told the panel. “These are not the actions of honest, forthright people.”

Grace argued that Woldemariam, 20, was gunned down--shot in the back and buttocks--after he tried to flee from a confrontation with the rapper and his bodyguard in Woodbine Park in the Palms area of West Los Angeles.

Defense lawyers say Woldemariam was going for a gun in his waistband when Lee fired at him from a Jeep driven by Broadus. They argue that he was shot in the “lower left flank” in the split-second he turned to run.

Several hours into his argument, Grace created a stir in the courtroom when he erroneously told the jury that prosecutors were not seeking first-degree murder convictions against Broadus and Lee.

“Is it first-degree murder? No, they didn’t go to the park to kill Woldemariam,” Grace said. “It’s second-degree murder based on implied malice.”

Defense attorneys, looking puzzled, quickly huddled and asked to meet at the bench with the judge. Grace later said he had made a “mistake” and told the jury there was enough evidence to support first-degree murder convictions.

Earlier in the day, defense attorney Donald Re made fun of prosecution claims that the two men drove in Broadus’ distinctive Jeep--well-known in the neighborhood--to a public place to commit a murder.

“It’s like committing a drive-by shooting in the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile and thinking you’re not going to be noticed. It’s not reasonable,” Re said, completing his closing arguments.