Reporter / Producer: Abbie Kearse


1995 article on Snoop Dogg trial:


Mtv Spins Into Trial Phase Music Channel Exhibits Court-tv Side With Coverage Of Snoop Doggy Dogg Murder Trial
BY DAVID BIANCULLI
Monday, October 23, 1995
STOP ME if you've heard this one:

There's an African-American celebrity charged with murder, with the trial being held in the Los Angeles Criminal Courts building.
The famous defendant pleads not guilty, and attorneys at the defense table include Johnnie Cochran and Carl Douglas.
The Los Angeles police mishandle, and even lose, some of the evidence in the high-profile case.
The sister of the victim speaks on television to vent her anger at the defendant and defend her late sibling.
The murder victim's family files a wrongful death suit in civil court.
The trial itself launches a new TV franchise, with cable networks dispatching legal correspondents and carving out time for special trial reports.
No, this isn't O.J. Simpson redux.
It's the impending murder trial of Calvin Broadus, much better known as rap artist Snoop Doggy Dogg, and two associates, all three of whom are charged with the killing of 20-year-old Philip Woldemariam.
The cable network taking notice this time is not Court TV or CNN; it's MTV.
Tonight at 8, the music video channel stakes out this new territory with a special report: "Murder Is the Case: The Snoop Doggy Dogg Trial."
The half-hour special dispatches MTV News anchor Kurt Loder and newly appointed legal correspondent Laura Porter (an attorney for Legal Aid) to profile both the victim and the defendants, revisit the murder scene, interview the respective attorneys, and a definite MTV first present on-air quotes from Black's Law Dictionary to explain the terms and issues involved.
This trial, unlike Simpson's, will not be televised, yet MTV plans to cover it despite its Dogg-gone vantage point.
Porter, whom Loder interviews at the conclusion of tonight's special, will be delivering dispatches from the courthouse for MTV.
Cochran and company will play no "race card" this time but because of the background and associations of both the victim and defendants, it's a good bet there will be a "gang card."
This is where MTV actually comes in handy here scouring previous Snoop Doggy Dogg videos and MTV appearances for evidence of quickly flashed gang-related hand signals.
There's also an awareness of hip hop that puts this case in its proper street context, including snippets from Dogg's performance on the song "Murder Was th e Case."
Alluding to that rap song, the victim's sister, Sophia Woldemariam, told MTV, "Murder is still the case," and added angrily, "It's still pending."
Aside from some needlessly goofy MTV touches (like making an attorney sit cross-legged on a conference-room table rather than just sit or stand normally), this half-hour MTV News special sets up this trial clearly and, what's more important, fairly.





(reel is for demonstration and non profit educational proposes only)
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.