Judge denies rap mogul Suge Knight murder-trial witness info

SUGE KNIGHT - Before They Were Famous

Suge Knight got emotional and lost his cool in court Friday saying he"s worried he"s going to die in jail.

The breakdown came as the judge on his murder case ruled he can"t get addresses for several key prosecution witnesses and will have to wait until a week before trial to get the names of three more confidential witnesses.

The delay was granted after prosecutors raised concerns he might try to intimidate the witnesses.

"My time is ticking some days because of the health problems I have, and right now I"m not getting a fair chance to prove my innocence," Knight told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen.

Suge Knight"s harsh jail rules blamed on "massive scandal"

The co-founder of Death Row Records, 51, claimed he hasn"t been able to pay his lawyers, investigators or experts because he can"t call anyone other than his lawyers and can"t get visits from people outside his defense team, his parents and his four young children.

"If I don"t have the right to discuss my business or my own finances to take care of my own children, how do I have a right to defend myself? Because if I have no communication with the world, I cannot hire the right people," he said. "They"ve worked so far but they"re not getting paid."

He said it was "important" for Coen to listen to him because he feels he has "no one else to talk to."

"I hate to have to go through all this and die in jail," he told the judge.

Suge Knight seeks court approval to visit with sick mother

After his impassioned speech, Knight snapped at his lawyers in open court and could be heard raising his voice while waiting in a holding area during a break.

"I think all of this is just starting to take a toll on him both emotionally and physically. Obviously he"s been incarcerated over a year. He"s not getting the proper medical attention. And what you saw today was just a product of that," defense lawyer J. Tooson told the Daily News after the hearing.

In a filing opposing the defense team"s right to unredacted discovery, prosecutors argued that Knight is a dangerous criminal with gang ties who extorts a safety "tax" from rappers and once ordered a bodyguard to punch a woman.

In court, prosecutor Cynthia Barnes said she was worried that if Knight learns the identities of three confidential civilian witnesses in the case, he might go after them.

Suge Knight will be allowed to see sick mom after judge"s ruling

"The problem is, in county jail these reports get distributed and they have names in them. So if we give the defendant a report that has the name of a witness and he"s passing it around the county jail it puts that person"s name on blast to other gang members and other individuals that that person is a snitch and a potential witness," Barnes argued. "That creates more of a concern for the safety of that individual."

Knight"s fiancee Toi-Lin Kelly scoffed at the argument outside court.

She noted prosecution witness Cle "Bone" Sloan testified under an immunity deal at a preliminary hearing - and apparently hasn"t been targeted.

"Bone already testified and he"s fine, right? There are no reports of him being threatened or even contacted," she said after the hearing.

Sloan, a former gang member, was caught on tape fighting with Knight in the parking lot of a Compton burger stand in January 2015 before Knight hit the gas on his truck and ran over both Sloan and local businessman Terry Carter killing Carter.

Knight"s attempted murder charge relates to Sloan. When Sloan testified at the preliminary hearing he insisted over and over that he wasn"t a "snitch."

The protective order now governing Knight"s jail stay was filed by authorities under seal, so it"s not clear what alleged evidence they offered to justify the strict curtailments on Knight"s access to phone calls and visitors.

When he spoke to the judge Friday, Knight said he"s in bad health with blood clots in his arm and neck that landed him in the hospital.

"The doctor confirmed the blood clot in his neck was the size of a golf ball," Kelly said after the hearing.

Arguing for Knight"s right to unredacted discovery, his lawyers claimed that prosecutors gave up their right to withhold witness information when they allegedly shared case paperwork with a man believed to be a jailhouse informant.

Tooson and his co-counsel Antoine Williams said in court that a defense investigator interviewed alleged informant Daniel Timms and believed Timms was able to review unredacted copies of Knight"s case information.

They said the District Attorney failed to publicly refute Timms" claims after they surfaced in court filings last April and argued that if Timms is telling the truth, prosecutors forfeited their right to redact their discovery when they shared discovery with a convicted criminal.

Barnes blasted the suggestion prosecutors were working with Timms.

"Daniel Timms is a liar and a joke," Barnes told Judge Coen. "He"s not a jailhouse informant. They"re completely misinformed."

Knight, 51, has pleaded not guilty in the case, claiming he was the victim of an armed ambush and feared for his life when he mowed down Sloan and Carter.

The former music mogul fled the scene but later agreed to meet with police to tell his side of the story. He was arrested, charged and hasn"t been able to post his staggering $10.5 million bail.

His time behind bars has been marked by a series of medical woes including an emergency appendix surgery in March.

Tooson said Knight is on medication for his blood clots and diabetes and was rushed to a hospital by ambulance last week because jail personnel allegedly underestimated the seriousness of his condition.

"I don"t want you to die," Judge Coen told Knight in court Friday.

The judge said he would be happy to sign any medical orders brought to his attention by Knight"s lawyers.

Kelly said she"s still worried.

"His attorneys are successful attorneys with business to attend to and he can"t always get them on the phone," she said. "And what if he"s too ill to make that phone call?"

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Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/judge-denies-rap-mogul-suge-knight-murder-trial-witness-info-article-1.2722024

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Attorney: Video exists of 'Suge' Knight in deadly run-in

As Marion "Suge" Knight sat jailed on suspicion of murder, dueling narratives cast him as attacker and victim in the hip-hop music mogul's latest and most serious run-in with the law.

Sheriff's deputies said he hit and killed a man with his pickup truck, injured another and then fled. His lawyer said he was an innocent victim who accidentally ran over his friend and the other man as he tried to escape an attack.

He turned himself in and was booked on Friday.

A better understanding about what happened Thursday afternoon may be found in a video that Knight's attorney said is in "police custody." Defense attorney James Blatt said he'll likely see it Monday or Tuesday, and he was confident it would vindicate his client who was being held in lieu of $2 million bail, on Saturday.

The incident was the latest in a long line of brushes with death and the law for the 49-year-old founder of Death Row Records, one of the genre's leading labels.

Knight started the label that helped solidify West Coast rap with Dr. Dre, who had been a member of the legendary group N.W.A. The label also launched the career of Snoop Dogg and had Tupac Shakur in the last months of his life.

The fatal run-in occurred a short while after Knight was told by deputies to leave a film location where he had argued with someone, authorities said.

The cast and crew were taking a break from filming a promotional video for the biopic "Straight Outta Compton," about the rise of N.W.A., according to a person familiar with the project who was not authorized to speak about it publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The argument resumed and escalated a short while later at a fast-food restaurant about two miles away, with Knight and the man exchanging punches through his open window. Knight then struck the man and a friend with his vehicle and fled, said sheriff's Lt. John Corina.

Terry Carter, 55, Knight's friend who authorities do not believe was involved in the altercation, died at a hospital, Corina said. The other man was identified by his manager as Cle "Bone" Sloan, 51, an actor and film consultant. He was hospitalized in stable condition, said manager Jermaine Shelton.

Corina said Knight backed up his pickup truck and knocked Sloan down.

"Then he puts the truck in drive, drives forward, running over him, and then keeps going forward and keeps on driving, and runs over Carter, who is standing in the parking lot, and keeps on going after that," Corina said.

He said witnesses told investigators it looked like an intentional act.

Defense attorney Blatt said Knight was called to Tam's Burgers in Compton for a meeting and was attacked by four people, including Sloan, as he slowed his truck. The men beat him through his window and threatened to kill him.

Corina said evidence thus far disputed Blatt's account, saying only one man exchanged blows with Knight through the window before he got run over.

The fatal run-in comes less than six months after Knight was shot six times at a West Hollywood nightclub in August the second shooting he's survived. No arrests have been made.

Knight punched the gas and fled in fear, Blatt said. He had no idea he hit two men. Corina said that claim is hard to believe.

Knight surrendered early Friday and was booked on suspicion of murder.

At 6-foot-4 and weighing 325 pounds, Knight's reputation as an imposing figure is credited, in part, with helping create Death Row Records when he strong-armed another label to release Dr. Dre from his contract, said Chuck Creekmur, CEO of allhiphop.com.

"You can't separate Suge from the music that came out of Death Row Records," Creekmur said. "He's linked forever to a really, really great musical period of time. And that would be linked to a really horrific period when we lost several of our brightest stars."

Knight was at the center of one of the most notorious rap conflicts of the 1990s, pitting rappers Tupac Shakur against Biggie Smalls in an East Coast versus West Coast rivalry.

Knight was sent to prison for nearly five years for badly beating a rival with Shakur at a Las Vegas hotel, just hours before Shakur was fatally shot while riding in Knight's car just east of the Strip.

Smalls, whose real name was Chris Wallace, was shot to death in a similar attack six months later.

Knight and Dre later had a falling out and Dre left. The record company eventually declared bankruptcy and was auctioned off.

Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, another former N.W.A. member, were at the film location Thursday, but they didn't see Knight, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity. Filming was shut down for the day and not resumed Friday.

The history of Knight's run-ins with the law goes back more than 20 years.

In November, Knight pleaded not guilty to a robbery charge filed after a celebrity photographer accused him of stealing her camera in Beverly Hills. Because of prior convictions, he could face up to 30 years in prison.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/celebrities/article8854817.html

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