Suge Knight pleads no contest in 2015 hit-and-run fatality
LOS ANGELES — Fallen rap impresario Marion “Suge” Knight pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter Thursday, marking the end of a yearslong legal saga for a bruising giant in the West Coast rap scene who was once described as the “most feared man in hip-hop.”
Knight reached a plea agreement Thursday in connection with the 2015 hitand-run death of Terry Carter outside a Compton restaurant after a dispute related to the film “Straight Outta Compton.”
Knight, 53, could serve up to 28 years in state prison.
Dressed in orange jail scrubs, the one-time hip-hop juggernaut stared straight ahead as Judge Ronald S. Coen detailed the plea agreement Thursday afternoon. He simply replied “Yes” fd, when asked if he accepted it.
Crystal Carter, the youngest daughter of Knight’s victim, rushed out of the courtroom wearing sunglasses after the plea deal was struck. A pendant reading “Carter” hung near her heart.
She said it was a relief to see the court proceedings, which had become “a complete circus,” wind to a close after three and a half years.
“But it will never be a win to the family,” she said. “Can’t bring my dad back.”
Knight’s attorney, Albert DeBlanc Jr., first contacted the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office about a possible plea deal Wednesday, according to Lillian Carter, the victim’s wife. Negotiations stretched into early Thursday afternoon, with Knight at one point fighting against the idea of having to take the plea in the presence of media lining the courtroom, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The source requested anonymity to discuss the case candidly.
The manslaughter charge carries an 11-year prison sentence, which will be doubled in Knight’s case because he has a previous felony conviction, according to a statement released by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. An additional six years will be added to that sentence because Knight was charged with using a deadly weapon to commit a violent felony, prosecutors said.
Knight will be sentenced Oct. 4, and prosecutors agreed to dismiss his other pending criminal matters as part of the deal. Knight had been separately accused of threatening “Straight Outta Compton” director F. Gary Gray and robbing a photographer in Beverly Hills.
Knight has been behind bars since January 2015, when he was arrested and charged with intentionally ramming his Ford F-150 pickup into two men in the driveway of Tam’s Burgers at Central and East Rosecrans avenues in Compton. He originally faced life without the possibility of parole if convicted.
Carter, a 55-year-old Compton native who knew Knight through the music industry, was killed. Cle “Bone” Sloan, who was involved in a physical altercation with Knight moments before the incident, was severely injured but survived.