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 In pleading no contest, equivalent to a guilty plea under
California law, the 53-year-old co-founder of influential
hip-hop label Death Row Records admitted using a "deadly and
dangerous weapon" when he ran down two men with his pickup
truck.
One of the victims, 55-year-old Terry Carter, later died of his
injuries. The second man, Cle "Bone" Sloan, was left with a
badly mangled left foot and head injuries.
The deadly confrontation occurred on Jan. 29, 2015, outside a
hamburger stand in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton, following
a heated argument on the set of a commercial for the film
"Straight Outta Compton."
Knight, who was out on bail in a robbery case at the time, fled
the scene but was later arrested.
Had Knight been convicted of murder and attempted murder as
originally charged, he would have faced a mandatory sentence of
25 years to life in prison. Jury selection in the murder trial
had been set to start on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
As part of the agreement to plead no contest to a single count
of voluntary manslaughter, all other charges in the case were
dropped. Two separate criminal cases in which he was charged
with robbery and making criminal threats will also be dismissed
when he is formally sentenced on Oct. 4, prosecutors said.
Knight's lawyers previously contended he accidentally struck the
two men with his vehicle while trying to flee what he thought
was an ambush attempt.
But prosecutors said Knight traded punches with Sloan through
the window of his truck before putting the vehicle into reverse,
knocking Sloan and Carter to the ground, then pulling forward to
run over both men. The incident was captured on videotape by the
restaurant's surveillance cameras.
Knight, sporting a graying beard and wearing an orange jail
uniform and dark-rimmed glasses, said little during Thursday's
proceedings, mostly giving one- or two-word answers to a series
of procedural questions from Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen.
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But at one point when asked by the judge if he understood his plea
could lead to deportation were he not a U.S. citizen, Knight joked:
"Is ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) gonna come and get
me?"
Knight has long been known as much for his run-ins with the law and
brushes with violence and as for his career as a rap music executive
who promoted the likes of Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur in
the 1990s.
Knight was sent to prison in October 1996 for violating probation on
a previous assault case when he allegedly kicked a man during a
scuffle at a Las Vegas hotel.
That scuffle in September 1996 took place hours before Shakur was
shot to death in a drive-by attack while riding in a car with Knight
after a Mike Tyson boxing match. Knight, who was at the wheel, was
slightly wounded himself.
Months later, rap artist Christopher Wallace, known as Notorious
B.I.G. and signed to a rival record label, was shot to death in Los
Angeles.
Knight, who was incarcerated at the time, was named by police a few
years later as a suspect in the Wallace slaying but was never
charged. Both rap murders remain unsolved.
Knight was released from prison in April 2001.
The following year, a federal racketeering probe of Knight and his
record label, stemming from allegations of murder, drug trafficking,
money laundering and gun running, was closed with the company
pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax charges.
In addition to being injured in the Shakur slaying, Knight was shot
and wounded during a party at a Miami Beach nightspot in 2005 and in
2014 at a West Hollywood nightclub.
(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; Additional reporting by Dan
Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Peter Cooney)
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