According to The Los Angeles Times Marion “Suge” Knight pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter Thursday in the 2015 hit-and-run death of a man outside a Compton restaurant after a dispute related to the film “Straight Outta Compton.”
The plea deal struck in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom calls for Knight, 53, to serve 28 years in state prison.
Dressed in orange jail scrubs, the onetime hip-hop juggernaut stared straight ahead as Judge Ronald S. Coen detailed the plea agreement Thursday afternoon. He simply replied “Yes” when asked if he accepted it.
Crystal Carter, the youngest daughter of Knight’s victim, Terry Carter, rushed out of the courtroom wearing sunglasses after the plea deal was struck. A pendant reading “Carter” hung near her heart.
“But it will never be a win to the family,” she said. “Can’t bring my dad back.”
Knight’s attorney, Al DeBlanc, 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.
Prosecutors in the courtroom were not immediately available for comment. 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.
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