CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
An Atlanta event promoter charged with fatally shooting rapper Dolla at the Beverly Center pleaded not guilty Friday to murder and two counts of assault.
Aubrey Louis Berry, 23, is accused of gunning down Roderick Anthony Burton II, known professionally as Dolla, and shooting at two other people in the Atlanta rapper’s entourage Monday in the valet area of the popular Westside mall.
Prosecutors on Friday also amended the charges to include an extra weapons offense of personally and intentionally discharging a firearm, causing great bodily injury and death.
Authorities allege that Berry, who had an altercation with the rapper at an Atlanta strip club this month, fired at Burton, 21, and two people who were with him. Berry was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport with the purported murder weapon tucked in his waistband.
Berry’s attorney, Howard R. Price, said his client did shoot the rapper but in self-defense.
“At worst it’s a manslaughter case; at best it’s a case of self-defense,” he told The Times this week.
-- Richard Winton
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