FORMER RAP MOGUL Marion “Suge” Knight will serve 28 years in prison for running over and killing a man three years ago, after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter on Thursday.
Knight’s plea, which was unveiled in a Los Angeles courtroom, came just days before he was to stand trial for the death of 55-year-old Terry Carter.
Carter was run down outside a Los Angeles restaurant in 2015 following a dispute over the movie “Straight Outta Compton”.
The 53-year-old rap music icon has been held behind bars since January 2015, when he was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run after ramming his pick-up truck into Carter and another man in the driveway of a fast-food restaurant in Compton.
His lawyers argued that he did not intend to harm the victims – one of whom survived – and was trying to drive away after a gun attack in broad daylight.
The incident, which was captured on CCTV, took place following an argument over “Straight Outta Compton”, a biopic about the pioneering rap group NWA.
Prosecutors said Knight was upset over not being paid for the use of his likeness in the film.
Knight, who co-founded Death Row Records with NWA star Dr Dre in the early 1990s, had been facing up to life in prison in the case.
Under the plea deal, he is set to be sentenced to 28 years in state prison on 4 October.
Death Row Records launched stars such as Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur, but collapsed in 1996 when Knight was jailed for violating a probation order by beating up a rival in Las Vegas.
He served another 10-month jail stint in 2003 after getting into a fight outside a Hollywood nightclub.
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