Legal

Dolla shooter acquitted

By | Published on Monday 24 May 2010

The man accused of murdering rising rapper and Akon protégé Dolla just over a year ago has been acquitted by a court in Atlanta.

As previously reported, Aubrey Berry was charged with the killing of Dolla, real name Roderick Burton, soon after the shooting that left the aspiring rapper dead. The prosecution said Berry, who had had an earlier altercation with Burton at an Atlanta club, killed the rapper in revenge for the earlier fight, and then got a valet to bring him his rented sports car before driving around the dying Burton. Prosecutor Bobby Grace told the court: “Defendant Berry murdered Roderick Burton in cold blood, then tried to escape”.

But from the start Berry said he acted in self defence. He said that shortly before the shooting Burton had threatened to kill him, and that he genuinely believed the rapper had a firearm. The defence also made much of the fact that the college-educated Berry had, until then, had a relatively violence-free life while Burton demonstrated a desire for a violent lifestyle through his rap lyrics. Despite reports at the time Berry was going to make bail, in the end the defendant spent a year in jail before being found not guilty of all charges last week.

Commenting on the verdict, Grace told reporters: “Obviously, I’m disappointed. I would hate to think that the jurors’ decision was based solely on [Burton’s] lyrics”.

CLARIFICATION 25. May 2010 05:57: As one of the comments below correctly points out, this hearing took place in an LA court, not in Atlanta as we say above, because, as previously reported, the shooting itself took place in Los Angeles and not the two men’s home city of Atlanta, where the earlier altercation did take place.



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