The attorney for a hip-hop artist accused of beating a jazz pianist to death in what has been called a real-life version of the film "Crash" asked Wednesday that charges be reduced from murder to manslaughter.
In papers filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the lawyer suggested that Swedish artist David Jassy, 35, acted in self-defense when he punched and kicked John Osnes, 55, during a November confrontation in a Hollywood crosswalk.
