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LOS ANGELES – Pretending a lawsuit for murder that took place nearly four years later, former rap tycoon "Suge" Knight pleaded not guilty Thursday of murder for crushing and killing a Compton businessman and agreed to serve nearly 30 years in prison.
The co-founder of Death Row Records has argued in the Los Angeles Superior Court after entering into an agreement with prosecutors and agreed to serve 28 years. The selection of the jury for his trial, which could have led to a life sentence, was to begin Monday.
Knight was charged with murder, attempted murder and flight after fleeing the conflict in January 2015 in front of a Compton burger stand. Knight and Cle "Bone" Sloan, a consultant on N.W.A. "Straight Outta Compton" biopic exchanged punches before Knight cut his van and crushed businessman Terry Carter, who had died of his injuries.
Knight's lawyers said he was acting in self-defense and was fleeing armed attackers when he crushed Carter and Sloan. Sloan denied carrying a firearm during the confrontation.
At Thursday's hearing, Knight, dressed in his orange dress with his arms and legs shackled, responded loudly to Judge Ronald Coen's questions by saying "without dispute" when the judge asked for his plea. He will be officially sentenced on October 4th.
The plea agreement asks Knight to serve a 22-year sentence for willful homicide and a six-year sentence for violation of the third strike.
Knight disagreed with the judge's description of one of his previous strikes and paused in the proceedings, which briefly exacerbated tensions in the courtroom.
"You've served nine years for that," said Coen, before Knight agrees to move on.
Carter's daughter, Crystal, sat in the front row of the courtroom and showed no visible reaction to the proceedings. "I'm surprised he pleaded," Crystal Carter said outside the court. "Normally, he likes cameras to be on him 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
The agreement also exempts Knight from two other cases, in 2014. He was accused of stealing a woman's camera and sending threatening text messages to the director of Straight Outta Compton, F. Gary Gray.
The delays, the detours and the drama marked the period leading up to the Knight trial, which was to begin on October 1 in a climate of security and secrecy. Court officials had stated that no list of witnesses would be released before the trial and that some witnesses might not be identified by name during the case.
A surveillance video showing that Knight had hit both men with his truck was likely to play a central role for both parties.
Sloan, who had struggled with Knight for years in a dispute that had roots in their relationship with Compton, was probably the main witness in the trial, but it was perhaps difficult for the prosecution.
Despite a detailed account of the incident to the police the same day, a few months later, during a preliminary hearing, he claimed not to have enough memory and refused any d & rsquo; First to identify Knight as being the person he had been fighting with.
Knight collapsed during a hearing, two of his former lawyers were charged with falsifying witnesses, and his fiancée did not dispute the sale of a striking Knight video the two men with his truck.
His attorney, Albert DeBlanc Jr., appointed by the court five months ago, was his 16th and Knight tried to fire him and get another lawyer just one day before the agreement was reached.
Against the advice of Coen and his lawyers, Knight often speaks at hearings, complaining about conditions of detention, his lawyers and his health problems.
On Thursday, while Coen read legal language about advocacy and told Knight that he was subject to deportation if he was not a citizen, Knight said, "ICE picks me up?"
DeBlanc declined to comment on the plea agreement. Prosecutors did not talk to reporters outside the court.
The 53-year-old played a key role in the gangster rap scene that flourished in the 1990s. His label has already included Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg among his artists. Knight lost control of the company after being forced to go bankrupt. He has already been convicted of armed robbery and armed aggression. He did not plead in 1995 and was sentenced to five years probation for assaulting two rap artists in a Hollywood recording studio in 1992.
He was sentenced in February 1997 to prison for violating the conditions of this probation by participating in a fight in a Las Vegas hotel a few hours before Shakur was fatally injured in a car while he was driving in the car. from Knight. The killing of Shakur remains unresolved.
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Follow Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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