Imprisoned Marion “Suge” Knight will appear virtually rather than in person during trial of a lawsuit brought by relatives of a man the former rap mogul ran over and killed with a pickup truck in Compton in 2015, a judge has ruled.
Compton Superior Court Judge Thomas D. Long issued the order Monday to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ahead of this Monday’s scheduled start of the trial of the case brought by family members of the late Terry Carter. The directive allows Knight, who is housed at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, to make a virtual appearance from jury selection to the verdict in the case.
Knight, now 57, pleaded no contest in September 2018 to voluntary manslaughter for killing the 55-year-old Carter after an argument near a promotional shoot for the movie “Straight Outta Compton” on Jan. 29, 2015. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen sentenced him to 28 years in prison a month after his plea.
Knight also admitted an allegation that he used a deadly weapon — a truck — during the commission of the crime in the parking lot of Tam’s Burgers in the 1200 block of West Rosecrans Avenue. A replica of the business was featured during the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 6 at SoFi Stadium.
The plaintiffs in the civil suit, filed in June 2015, are Carter’s widow, Lillian, and daughters Crystal and Nekaya. Tentatively scheduled to testify during trial along with Knight and the plaintiffs are hip hop producer Jimmy “JimBob” Chris and rapper D-Dog.
Knight also struck and seriously injured Cle “Bone” Sloan during the confrontation, which was captured on surveillance video. Knight had claimed he was trying to flee the scene in his truck and contended that Sloan, who was working security for the film set, had a gun.
Knight, a Compton-born former football player, co-founded Death Row Records, which in its heyday in the early 1990s was generating revenues of about $100 million per year. He helped launch some of rap’s biggest acts, including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. He was with Shakur the night he was gunned down in 1996.
Knight served five years in prison for assault and federal weapons violations and, after his release in 2001, spent another 10 months behind bars for violating parole by hitting a Hollywood nightclub valet. In August 2014, he was shot a half-dozen times at a Los Angeles-area nightclub.