LOS ANGELES, Feb 3: Rap mogul Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, who was arrested on suspicion of murder last week in Los Angeles after police said he ran over two people before fleeing the scene, has had his bail revoked, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
The 49-year-old co-founder of the hip-hop label Death Row Records was being held on more than 2 million dollars bail, but it was revoked because he was deemed a possible flight risk, a candidate for California’s three-strike rule and his criminal past, Sheriff’s Deputy Amber Smith said yesterday. Knight was also considered a possible risk to intimidate witnesses, Smith said.
Knight, who has served time in prison for violating terms of past sentences, has yet to be charged. The incident took place in the parking lot of a burger shop in Compton, south of downtown Los Angeles, where Knight and two people began arguing, the sheriff’s department said. Authorities said Knight and one of the men began throwing punches at each other through the window of his Ford F-150 Raptor pickup truck before Knight put the vehicle in reverse, knocking one of the victims to the ground. Knight then pulled forward, running over the first victim and striking the second, before leaving the scene, they said. One of the two victims, identified as 55-year-old Terry Carter, died later at a hospital.
Knight’s attorney, James Blatt, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment, but his assistant referred to the county jail’s online records showing Knight having no bail. Blatt has said Knight was attacked and did nothing wrong.
California’s three-strikes law gives stiffer sentences to people who have already been convicted of serious felonies. Knight’s hip-hop empire, which was instrumental in popularizing rap and included successful artists such as Tupac Shakur, Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, began to decline after his stints in jail, the shooting death of Shakur and Dr Dre’s departure from the label.
Knight pleaded not guilty in November to a charge stemming from accusations he stole a camera from a celebrity photographer.
(AGENCIES)
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