Bodyguard to Face Trial in Stalking Case

To avoid a possible prison sentence, the bodyguard of Snoop Doggy Dogg withdrew a no-contest plea Thursday and will go to trial on charges he stalked an ex-girlfriend.

Calling the January plea agreement “ill-conceived” and “a mess,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sandy Kriegler allowed McKinley Malik Lee to stand trial on the charges stemming from allegations he stalked the woman when she ended their relationship last year.

The January deal called for probation for Lee in return for his no-contest plea to charges that otherwise were punishable by a maximum of three years in prison.

While awaiting sentencing, Lee was accused of contacting the woman several times, a violation of the January plea agreement. Because of the latest allegations, Lee faced the full prison term instead of probation at sentencing, according to his lawyer, Mark Kamerman.

“I liken it to buyers remorse,” Kamerman said. “It’s like buying a car at the last minute, driving it home and and waking up the next thing is saying, ‘My god. What did I do?’ ”

Kamerman said the only reason Lee entered the plea was so that he could get of out jail quickly. But Lee never felt that he had committed the crime of stalking, Kamerman said.

Last year, Lee and rapper Calvin Broadus, or Snoop Doggy Dogg, were acquitted in a 1993 murder in West Los Angeles.

A preliminary hearing in the stalking case was set for May 12.