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Knight, 49, and 43-year-old comedian Katt Williams had
previously been charged with robbery in the Sept. 5 camera
incident outside a Beverly Hills studio. Los Angeles County
prosecutor Keri Modder disclosed the new count during a brief
court hearing on Wednesday.
Modder declined to provide details on the evidence leading to
the count and the music executive has not yet entered a plea.
Knight, the co-founder of influential hip-hop label Death Row
Records, and Williams are due back in court on Feb. 19 to enter
pleas before a preliminary hearing in the case. Neither attended
Wednesday’s proceedings.
Modder also said she planned to request that the court forfeit
Knight’s bail of $500,000 and set a new bail of $1 million.
Knight must remain in custody, however, because he is being held
without bail in the hit-and-run case, which stems from a Jan. 29
altercation outside a burger shop in the Los Angeles suburb of
Compton.
Prosecutors say Knight and another man began throwing punches at
each other through the window of Knight's pickup truck before he
put the vehicle in reverse, knocking the man to the ground.
The rap tycoon then pulled forward, running over one man and
striking the second before leaving the scene, according to
prosecutors.
If Knight is convicted, he faces a sentence of 25 years to life
under California's three-strikes law, which gives stiffer
sentences to those previously convicted of serious felonies.
Outside court, the music executive's attorney, David Kenner,
said there was no basis for the threat charge.
Kenner also said he had reviewed video surveillance of the
burger shop and that it was possible that someone there may have
brandished a gun.
"I think the facts may turn out to show that Mr. Knight was the
subject of a full-on ambush,” Kenner said.
Knight and Williams previously pleaded innocent to robbery in
the Beverly Hills case, and he has also pleaded not guilty to
the murder and hit-and-run charges.
Knight has previous convictions from 1997 on two counts of
assault with a deadly weapon, according to court documents filed
by prosecutors.
(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by
Cynthia Johnston and Peter Cooney)
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