Man acquitted of Dolla murder
Published:Monday | May 24, 2010 | 12:00 AM
LOS ANGELES (AP): A jury acquitted a man of killing up-and-coming Atlanta rapper Dolla during a shooting last year at a crowded, upscale Los Angeles mall.
Jurors last Friday rejected prosecutors' contentions that the killing of Dolla, whose name was Roderick Anthony Burton II, was a callous act of apparent revenge.
Burton and his accused shooter, Aubrey Louis Berry, had been involved in a fight at an Atlanta club less than two weeks before the shooting last May.
Berry's attorney had contended the shooting was an act of self-defence, emphasising that Burton - a protégé of hip-hop artist Akon - glorified a violent gangster lifestyle in his rap lyrics and online videos.
Berry, who has remained jailed since the May 18, 2009, shooting, hugged his attorney but was otherwise unemotional after the verdict. Burton's mother, Dayna Robinson, sobbed. "Oh please, somebody help me," Robinson said, as she and other family members filed out of the courtroom.
Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace painted Berry as a killer who methodically aimed at Burton during the shooting, then ordered a valet to retrieve his rented sport utility vehicle while still clutching his gun. In his closing arguments last Monday, Grace claimed Berry had no remorse.
"Defendant Berry murdered Roderick Burton in cold blood, then tried to escape to Atlanta," Grace said.
business lunch
Berry brought the gun to a business lunch at the mall. The men spotted each other at a restaurant and exchanged words in the valet area. It was then, Grace said, that Berry pulled his weapon and used it "as an instrument of death in a symphony of violence."
Grace said Berry drove around Burton as he was dying and began to plot his escape.
Defence Attorney Howard Price, however, painted a very different picture of Berry, who was soft-spoken last week as he testified about a series of incidents that led up to the shooting.
The jury on Friday found Berry not guilty of first-degree murder and all other charges, including assault with a firearm.