Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Relatives of a man run over and killed by Marion “Suge” Knight in 2015 are opposing a motion by the imprisoned former rap mogul’s attorney to withdraw from the case days before the start of a retrial of the family’s civil case, saying it would force a prejudicial delay in the case.
The Compton-born Knight, now 59, pleaded no contest in September 2018 to voluntary manslaughter for killing 55-year-old Terry Carter after an argument near a promotional shoot for the movie “Straight Outta Compton” on Jan. 29, 2015. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen sentenced him to 28 years in prison a month after his plea.
The plaintiffs in the civil suit, filed in June 2015, are Carter’s widow, Lillian, and daughters Crystal and Nekaya. The first trial took place in Compton Superior Court, where Long declared a mistrial in June 2022 with jurors deadlocked 7-5 in favor of finding Knight liable.
In court papers filed earlier this month with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Thomas D. Long, lawyer David Kenner says there has been a “breakdown” in his relationship with Knight. A hearing on Kenner’s motion is scheduled April 3, four days before the scheduled start of the retrial.
But in a filing brought Wednesday, attorneys for Carter’s family said it would be unfair to the plaintiffs to allow Kenner to withdraw at this late stage.
“This court has been privy to the numerous tactics used by defendant to attempt to delay and avoid trial in this action in not only the past three years but throughout the past near decade of litigation,” the family’s lawyers argue in their pleadings.
Permitting Kenner’s withdrawal would mean the retrial would take place more than 10 1/2 years after Carter’s death, the plaintiffs’ attorneys further state in their court papers.
“Based on the prejudice approving this motion would incur on plaintiffs and Mr. Kenner’s failure to follow statutory procedure, David E. Kenner’s motion must be denied,” the family’s lawyers contend in their filing.
In the criminal case, Knight also admitted an allegation that he used a deadly weapon — a truck– during the commission of the crime in the parking lot of Tam’s Burgers in the 1200 block of West Rosecrans Avenue. A replica of the business was featured during the Super Bowl halftime show in February 2022 at SoFi Stadium.
The former NFL replacement player co-founded Death Row Records, which in its heyday in the early 1990s was generating revenues of about $100 million per year. He helped launch some of rap’s biggest acts, including Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. He was with Shakur the night he was gunned down in Las Vegas in 1996.
