Can Suge Knight beat murder rap for Los Angeles hit-and-run?
Hip-hop mogul Suge Knight has been charged with the murder of an old friend, but it may have all been a terrible accident
On January 29, Ice Cube and Dr Dre were filming a promotional video for Straight Outta Compton, the highly anticipated film about NWA - the seminal hip-hop group that brought the two stars together 30 years ago in Compton, California. Marion "Suge" Knight, the 49-year-old music mogul whose legacy is as brutal as the gangsta rap his Death Row Records helped popularise, was not allowed on the set.
Knight has been shot, gone bankrupt, sold Death Row and lived in and out of prison, even if he remained something between a myth and a legend in the history of hip hop. But one source on the film set says security turned away Knight - who is slated to be portrayed in the movie - adding that a Compton sergeant cited Dr Dre's restraining order against Knight (the pair fell out in the 1990s and haven't been close since). Others insisted they just weren't interested in the theatrics that seem to follow Knight wherever he goes.
"They didn't want no drama around the movie set," says another source close to the filmmaking, who asked to remain anonymous because he wasn't authorised to speak on behalf of the production. "Let them people make their movie in peace."
The confusing, high-profile and ultimately deadly incident that ensued was anything but peaceful: Terry Carter, a record label owner in Compton and interlocutor - "his whole plan was to get Suge and Dre back together", according to David Weldon, a producer known as Rhythm D who has worked with Carter and Knight - was killed. Knight is now facing 30 years in jail for murder, but his long-time lawyer says the incident was an accident. The Los Angeles county sheriff's department says it is reviewing video evidence and interviewing people who told them the death "looked like it was an intentional act".
It sounds like yet another sordid chapter in Knight's life, where gang violence and entertainment-industry egos have intersected with unexpected consequences. But according to people with intimate knowledge of the situation, the latest high-profile episode in hip-hop lore may have been an accident: Knight, apparently in the midst of being attacked by a third man in a hamburger-joint parking lot but too weak to fight back, attempted to flee the scene, not only hitting his aggressor but running over Carter - his friend - in the process.
On Tuesday, Knight pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder charges in a Compton court before complaining of chest pain and being rushed to a hospital. He is due back in court tomorrow.