Suge Knight to stay in jail for at least another five weeks as bail hearing postponed
Rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight will stay in jail for at least five more weeks in a fatal hit-and-run case after a judge on Monday (9 February) postponed a hearing at which defence lawyers sought bail for their client, saying he was in poor health.
Knight, the 49-year-old co-founder of seminal influential label Death Row Records, is being held without bail on murder and felony hit-and-run charges in connection with the 29 January incident at Tam's Burgers in the Los Angeles suburb of Compton.
Defence lawyers had sought the hearing to petition Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ricardo Ocampo to set bond for Knight.
But on Monday they asked that it be delayed while they reviewed discovery materials in the high-profile case. Ocampo set the new bail review hearing for 20 March.
Defence attorney David Kenner says they have not seen the evidence against Knight and do not feel prepared for a hearing.
"Yes, we requested the continuance because right now it would be like asking anyone of you to walk into the court room in 10 minutes and do a bail hearing, not knowing what evidence you have to deal with or do something in the court room. It's not an appropriate way to do it.
"We'd like to have the material today so that we can have the bail hearing as soon as we have time to review the material but we're being told that we may not even get the material until the 9 of February. I'm sorry the 9 of March," said Kenner after the hearing ended.
Knight was admitted to a Los Angeles hospital for treatment of an undisclosed medical condition last week immediately after his arraignment on the charges and released two days later.
Prosecutors say the incident at Tam's Burgers began when Knight and another man began throwing punches at each other through the window of Knight's pickup truck before he put the vehicle in reverse, knocking the man to the ground.
The rap tycoon then allegedly pulled forward, running over one man and hitting a second before leaving the scene.
Knight, who has served time in prison for a parole violation, pleaded not guilty in November to a charge stemming from accusations he stole a camera from a celebrity photographer. He was free on bail in that case at the time of the parking lot incident.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.