Notorious B.I.G. lawsuite update
The family of the late Notorious B.I.G. lost a bid to expand their wrongful death lawsuit against the city to include new claims that a rogue police officer was at the scene of the killing.
The family submitted a motion last month alleging that former officers David Mack and Rafael Perez, working for Death Row Records mogul Marion “Suge” Knight, were behind the rapper’s shooting death.
The rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was killed March 9, 1997, after a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The murder has not been solved.
His family contends that Perez was at the museum the night of the slaying and tipped Mack to the rapper’s whereabouts. Both former officers, Knight and the alleged triggerman, Amir Muhammad, have denied involvement in the killing.
U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper denied the request Thursday, ruling there was “no admissible evidence that Perez was on duty … at the scene of the murder.”
Cooper declared a mistrial last summer after finding that a police detective intentionally hid statements by a jailhouse informant linking the killing to Mack and Perez.
The retrial of the family’s lawsuit is scheduled to begin in January.
