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The graphic video appears to support prosecutors' contention
that Knight deliberately struck Cle "Bone" Sloan and Terry
Carter with his red Ford F-150 on Jan. 29 following an
altercation in the driveway of Tam's Burgers in the Los Angeles
suburb of Compton.
Sloan, 51, survived his injuries but Carter, 55, was pronounced
dead at a local hospital.
Matthew Fletcher, who formally took over as Knight's attorney
during a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, told
reporters that the video would help exonerate his client because
it showed him fleeing an ambush at the fast-food restaurant.
"When you're attacked ... you have every right to defend
yourself," he said. "There's no duty to retreat, there's no duty
to hide or cower. You have the right to leave."
Fletcher said the video also shows a third man removing a gun
from Sloan as he lay on the ground injured, helping prove the
defense argument that Knight, 49, had been lured to Tam's
burgers for an attack.
The videotape, which appears to have been shot by a security
camera at the fast-food stand, begins with Knight pulling
quickly into the driveway, where he is immediately confronted by
Sloan.
The two men trade blows through the driver's window of the truck
for about 20 seconds before Knight reverses the vehicle,
knocking Sloan to the ground.
A few seconds later the truck reappears, accelerating through
the driveway and running over both Sloan and Carter as two other
men scamper out of the way. One of those men then removes a
black object that Fletcher says is a handgun from the injured
Sloan and slips it into his waistband.
Knight has pleaded innocent to murder, attempted murder and
hit-and-run charges stemming from the incident.
The co-founder of influential Death Row Records has previous
convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and could face 25
years to life in prison under California's so-called
three-strikes law if he is convicted at trial.
Knight, who was shot six times in a nightclub altercation last
year, has been taken to a jail infirmary complaining of ill
health following several hearings in the case.
(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by
Lisa Lambert)
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