"Suge" Knight, Katt Williams re-enter not guilty pleas in robbery case

LOS ANGELES -- Former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight and comedian Katt Williams pleaded not guilty Tuesday to robbery charges fter a celebrity photographer accused them of stealing her camera in Beverly Hills last year.

They had previously pleaded not guilty, but needed to re-enter the pleas because two weeks ago a judge determined the pair should stand trial in the case. At that time, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen admonished Knight because the Death Row Records co-founder had held up a sign for cameras during the court appearance. Coen warned the 50-year-old if he did it again, his hands would be shackled to a chair.

No trial date has been set in the case.

Williams' attorney has acknowledged that the comedian briefly took the photographer's camera but said at an Oct. 13 hearing that he did so only to erase images of Knight's young son. The photographer testified that a confrontation with Williams and another woman left her with a concussion and wrist and hand injuries.

Knight's attorney denies the Death Row Records co-founder was involved in taking the camera. Attorney Thomas Mesereau said at the earlier hearing that threats Knight made toward photographer Leslie Redden were attempts to get her to not shoot photos of his son.

"The only evidence that exists is he didn't want his son photographed," Mesereau said. "Any father would have acted as he did."

Redden recorded a verbal confrontation with Knight on a camera hanging from her neck, but the device did not capture the physical struggle over her professional camera.

Knight remains jailed without bail in a separate murder case filed after he ran over two men outside a Compton burger stand in January, killing one and seriously injuring an adviser to the film "Straight Outta Compton."

Knight, 50, has pleaded not guilty in that case, too, and no trial date has been set.

Knight was a key player in the gangster rap scene that flourished in the 1990s, and his Death Row Records label once listed Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg among its artists. He lost control of the company after it was forced into bankruptcy.

He faces potential life sentences if convicted in either case because of prior convictions for armed robbery and assault with a gun.

Williams, 44, has starred in several comedy specials and appeared in films such as "First Sunday" and "Friday After Next."