Prosecutors Want Suge Knight's Bail Set At $25M
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — Prosecutors on Thursday requested that a judge set bail for Marion "Suge" Knight at $25 million in his murder case and say the former rap music mogul has extorted millions from rappers in recent years.
The motion filed by Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes cites 31 incidents in which Knight is accused of threatening others or using violence since 2004, including threats he made about the upcoming film "Straight Outta Compton."
The motion also says Knight has been involved in money-laundering and extortion schemes targeting up-and-coming as well as established rappers in recent years.
Knight and an associate have been involved in an extortion scheme that has netted more than $10 million, an affidavit filed by a sheriff's detective says. "Apparently when a new artist or rapper comes to either Los Angeles or Las Vegas, he is required to pay a 'tax' to defendant Knight," Barnes' motion states.
The Death Row Records co-founder is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom on Friday morning for a hearing regarding his bail.
He is being held without bail on murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run charges filed after he struck 55-year-old Terry Carter and 51-year-old Cle "Bone" Sloan with his truck during a fight in a Compton parking lot in late January. Carter died, but Sloan survived.
Knight, 49, has pleaded not guilty.
If Knight attempts to post bail, Barnes has requested that he prove the money has not come from illegal activities.
If Los Angeles Superior Court Ronald Coen grants Knight bail, he would either have to post the entire amount in cash or pay a bond company eight percent of the bail amount and they would put up the whole amount, Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Lou Shapiro said.
The bond company would keep Knight's money — $2 million if Knight's bail is set at $25 million — as its fee, Shapiro said.
Among the allegations of threats included in the motion is a summary of a heavily-redacted police report taken last year from someone who claims Knight threatened them over "Straight Outta Compton," a film about the rise of the gangster rap group NWA.
"Knight was angry that he was not compensated for his likeness in the movie," Barnes' motion states. It adds that Knight warned the unidentified victim that he was prepared to attack over the film and would target former NWA members Dr. Dre and Ice Cube.
Knight's 1994 conviction on a federal firearms charge and a 1995 conviction on two counts of assault with a firearm that led to a lengthy prison sentence are also cited in the motion to support.
"Since his release from prison custody, defendant Knight has continued his repugnant life of crime," the motion states before listing alleged crimes that include battery, criminal threats, extortion and assault.
According to an affidavit from a sheriff's investigator, Knight is part of an extortion scheme of rappers and professional athletes that is jointly run by the Crips and Bloods street gangs. Knight is a member of the Bloods gang, according to the affidavit signed by Sheriff's Sgt. Richard Biddle.
The manager of an unidentified "well-known" rapper told detectives that Knight and a Crips gang leader wanted $30,000 from the performer every time he came to Los Angeles, Biddle wrote.
Biddle stated detectives began looking into the extortion scheme after Knight was shot six times last year at a West Hollywood, California, nightclub on the weekend of the MTV Video Music Awards.
Knight has complained that he is suffering from complications from his wounds, and he told a judge at a hearing earlier this month that he is blind in one eye and has limited vision in his other eye.
He has been taken by ambulance from a courthouse three times since he was charged with murder. Knight is charged with killing Terry Carter, 55, while fleeing a fight with another man in the parking lot of a Compton, California, burger stand.
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