An Atlanta man was acquitted Friday of first-degree murder and other charges stemming from the shooting death of a 21-year-old rapper in a valet parking area at the Beverly Center in Los Angeles just over a year ago.

Aubrey Louis Berry, a 24-year-old college graduate, had been charged in the May 18, 2009, death of Roderick Burton, who went by the stage name "Dolla.'' But after about two days of deliberations, a seven-man, five-woman jury acquitted him of all charges, accepting the defendant's testimony that the shooting was in self-defense.

The jury's verdict prompted incredulous cries from Burton's relatives, who sat in the second row of the courtroom. The rapper's mother, Dayna Robinson, wept as she left the courtroom, saying, "He killed my son.''

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael E. Pastor ordered that Berry be released from custody after the jury's verdict. Berry -- who had been in custody since being arrested at Los Angeles International Airport about three hours after the shooting -- was released just over an hour after the jury's verdict was announced.

In addition to first-degree murder, jurors acquitted Berry of the lesser charges of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the rapper's death. Jurors also acquitted him of two counts of assault with a firearm involving two other men who were with Burton.

Berry testified in his own defense, telling jurors that he shot the rapper out of fear that the young man was reaching for a gun.

The defendant told jurors he was in a state of "straight paranoia and panic'' after Burton told him, "You wanna die, huh?'' and seemed to reached for a gun.

Berry testified that the chain of events had begun 11 days earlier at a club in Atlanta, where Berry bumped into the rapper's girlfriend and a fight ensued. He said he heard Burton and two others chant the gang name "Mansfield Crips'' at him outside the club, and that he learned through the Internet that it was the name of a Los Angeles-based street gang.

After the verdict was read, Deputy District Attorney Bobby Grace said, "The jury saw it one way, and I saw it another.''

"Obviously we're disappointed,'' the prosecutor said, noting that it "appears from their verdict that they believed what the defendant had to say.''

Grace added that he would hate to think that the jury's decision was based solely on the rap lyrics of Burton, who was in town to celebrate his girlfriend's birthday and to work on his debut CD.

Berry's attorney, Howard R. Price, said his client had "internalized everything'' after being in protective custody for just over a year and has a sense of grief for Burton's family.

The defense lawyer said he was "very concerned'' about his client's safety, saying that plans were under way to "secrete him somewhere and get him out of Dodge.''

"We don't know where his life is going to lead now,'' Price said, adding that the Crips had threatened his client. "It takes the joy out of being acquitted.''

In his closing argument earlier this week, Deputy District Attorney Halim Dhanidina told jurors that "an unarmed man was gunned down in cold blood from behind'' by being shot three times in the back and that Berry had no explanation for why he fired eight times at Burton and his two friends.

"This is not self-defense. This is not manslaughter. This is a very clear case of a murder -- a murder in the first-degree,'' the prosecutor told jurors.

Dhanidina told jurors that the defense had built its entire case on "stereotypes and prejudice'' involving the rap artist, arguing that it was clear that what an artist sings about does not reflect on reality. He noted that other musicians, including Ice-T, LL Cool J and M.I.A., also have sung about violence.

Grace told the panel that Burton had "a right to sing about whatever he wants to sing about,'' but had become the target of a "character assassination'' since he was shot to death with a weapon that had been brought from Atlanta.

Price disputed the prosecution's contention that Burton's killing was a murder and questioned whether two prosecutors from the District Attorney's elite Major Crimes Division would have been assigned to the case if the shooting had happened somewhere other than an "upscale white mall.''

"When you look at the evidence, it is not a murder case,'' he told jurors.

Berry's attorney said his client's run-in with the rapper at the Atlanta nightclub led him to try to find out more about him and the Mansfield Crips, and that what Berry learned "really gave him the willies about those people.''

Price told jurors that it was a "terrible coincidence for both of them'' that both men had shown up to the P.F. Chang's China Bistro, and that his client was trying to get away from Burton when he was cornered.

He called Berry a "very good, decent man.''