Suge Knight Charged With Murder in Fatal Hit-and-Run
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Photo by Johnny Nunez/WireImage(LOS ANGELES) — Marion “Suge” Knight was charged on Monday with murder and other counts following a fatal hit-and-run in a Compton parking lot last week, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced.
Knight, 49, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Compton at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, authorities said. He is being held without bail.
Following an altercation on Thursday outside a Compton restaurant, Knight allegedly was driving his truck when he ran over two men standing in the parking lot. One man was injured and the second man, Terry Carter, 55, died. The driver of the pickup fled the scene.
Knight, who was out on bail in a separate robbery case, is charged with one count of murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of hit-and-run with an allegation that he committed a serious and violent felony while out on bail in another pending case.
The complaint includes use of a deadly weapon and causing great bodily injury allegations and that Knight has prior convictions, making this a third-strike case.
If convicted, Knight faces up to life in state prison. The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Knight has a long history as a rap pioneer, as well as a long history of trouble.
The ex-head of Death Row Records has been in the spotlight on and off since the early 1990s, supporting iconic artists on his former label such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur.
But there’s more to Knight’s story than his influence as a hip-hop mogul, or even his reported connection with an East Coast-West Coast rap feud that may have led to the deaths of Shakur and Bad Boy Records rapper Biggie Smalls.
The 6-foot-4 Knight also acquired a reputation as a dangerous and physically imposing man. In 1996, for instance, rapper Vanilla Ice told ABC News’ Brian Ross that Knight dangled him off the balcony of a hotel in the early 1990s during an argument over money from the song “Ice Ice Baby.”
“I needed to wear a diaper on that day,” Vanilla Ice said. “I was very scared.”
Knight denied the claim.
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