Snoop Dogg's Murder Trial Is Becoming A Starz Series

Multi-hyphenate and G-funk icon Snoop Dogg has enjoyed many professional transitions, from a gangster lifestyle to a pimp image and beyond, an open-mindedness that now has him cooking alongside Martha Stewart. But in 1995, the talk of the town was Snoop's first-degree murder charge for the shooting death of rival gang member Phillip "Little Smooth" Woldermariam, who was shot by his bodyguard, McKinley Lee Jr. Under the defense of O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnnie Cochran, it eventually came to light that Woldermariam's friend Jason London had recovered and concealed the gun his fallen brother was carrying at the time he was shot, and Snoop and Lee were both acquitted on February 20, 1996. The sensational murder trial and Snoop's hit single on the ordeal, "Murder was the Case," are being developed as a series for Starz.

The rapper, whose legal name is Calvin Broadus, has tag-teamed with Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson for the series' development, tenatively titled, "A Moment in Time: Murder was the Case." This will be the second in Starz's anthology series, following up on the previously announced "A Moment In Time" series on the 50 Cent–The Game beef. No writer has been announced for the project yet.

The series will recount the events of the 1993 shooting, Broadus and Lee's murder charges, the ensuing trial, and its simultaneous place in public conversation as Snoop's debut rap album, "Doggy Style." The album got a massive boost from the trial, selling millions, but prosecutors made much of the violent lyrics in the album, and the song "Murder Was the Case," in particular. The defense claimed that Lee, Snoop's bodyguard, was the shooter and acted in self-defense. This season of "A Moment in Time" will unpack the story and display a darker side of fame.