A pretrial hearing has been scheduled Tuesday for Mark Blankenship, former rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight’s business partner, who was charged with conspiring to violate a court order by selling video evidence that is under seal for Knight’s upcoming murder case.
Knight’s fiancee, Toi-Lin Kelly pleaded no contest to conspiring to violate a court order. Kelly, 36, was arrested in September after a grand jury indicted her on charges of conspiring to violate a court order, obstruct justice and commit grand theft.
Kelly and Blankenship could face up to three years in prison if convicted.
Blakenship’s pretrial hearing is scheduled to take place at the Criminal Courts Building.
Meanwhile, court records obtained by the Los Angeles Times includes testimony by detectives alleging that Knight threatened “Straight Out of Compton” director F. Gary Gray, while he was filming a scene for the N.W.A. biopic on a South Los Angeles street.
Knight was on the other end of a phone call to Gray, furious about his depiction in the film and the fact that he had not received any compensation, the court records show.
Eventually, Gray hung up and at least two more phone calls came, but Gray ignored them. A text message threatening Gray and his family soon followed, the Times reported.
In the court transcripts made public on Friday, the Times reported, Gray was so shaken by the exchange that he spent nearly two days dodging questions about the incident during a grand jury hearing in February.
At one point during the hearing, Gray seemed to have difficulty even recalling details about the film he directed, which was nominated for an Academy Award.
—City News Service