Suge Knight is done fighting the justice system.
Death Row Records head Suge Knight pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in court on Thursday. The controversial music label exec has been behind bars for the past three and a half years awaiting trial for a murder case. TMZ reported that Knight took a plea deal in a Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday afternoon. The guilty plea comes while he is sitting in jail awaiting trial for the murder of his former friend, Terry Carter who he ran over with his truck.
Suge Knight was facing life in prison if convicted for the murder, but after having some time to think about the mountain of legal troubles he found himself in, he decided to give up fighting. Carter was struck and killed by an SUV that Knight was driving after the former Death Row Records head got into a fight while being on the set of the hit movie Straight Outta Compton.
Carter was ran over when Suge Knight tried to speed out of the parking lot at Tam’s Burgers in Compton where a portion of the movie was being shot. Knight claimed that he unintentionally ran over Carter and hit another man while trying to escape because he thought the men were going to shoot him.
Suge Knight is now 53 years old which means that he will be in his 80s before he is released from prison. The 28 years sentence is extraordinarily stiff for a guilty plea for manslaughter. The reason why his prison sentence is so high is that he was previously convicted for a felony in 1997. The court now sees him as a repeat offender.
Knight would’ve gotten 20 years, but he picked up an additional five years because the crime was deemed violent and severe. He also got a few extra years because his truck was considered to be a deadly weapon used in a severe and violent crime.
