Notorious B.I.G. Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against LAPD Heating Up

11/01/2004 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
LAUNCH Radio Networks

Voletta Wallace, the mother of the late Notorious B.I.G., has altered her wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department. The Los Angeles Times reports that Wallace has dismissed Harry Billups, who is also known as Amir Muhammad, as a defendant in the lawsuit. The decision sent shockwaves through the legal community as Billups was the alleged triggerman in the shooting death of the rapper on March 9, 1997.

The decision to dismiss Billups from the lawsuit comes after he submitted to a pretrial deposition and offered to take a lie detector test to prove his innocence. Billups was never questioned by the Los Angeles Police Department in relation to the murder. No additional information was available about the confidential settlement, except that no money changed hands.

Wallace filed her lawsuit in 2002, alleging that former police officer David Mack, who is serving a 14-year jail term for bank robbery, orchestrated the murder of her son and hired Billups to pull the trigger. The lawsuit also alleges that the Los Angeles Police Department failed to pursue the case once they realized Mack was involved. By dismissing the alleged triggerman from the lawsuit, Wallace's attorneys will have a tough time proving their theory.

The late rapper's mother offered to settle the lawsuit for $105 million in August. That amount was lowered to $18 million in September, but Los Angeles' City Council would not approve the settlement.

Wallace's theory that Mack and Billups were involved in the murder of her son are based on the investigative work of former Los Angeles police detective Russell Poole, who believes Death Row Records head Suge Knight ordered the murder. Knight has been tied to Mack in the past.

The lawsuit, which also names former Los Angeles Police Chiefs Bernard Parks, Willie Williams, and Bayan Lewis, as defendants is slated to go to trial in April. The judge has decided to separate the case into three stages. During the first stage, Wallace's lawyers will have to prove that Mack orchestrated the murder. Poole will not be allowed to testify during this stage of the case.

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