LOS ANGELES — Former rap music mogul Marion “Suge” Knight was hospitalized again on Thursday after a judge ordered him to stand trial on murder and attempted murder charges filed after he ran over two men in a parking lot.
Knight’s condition and the cause of his latest health problem were not immediately known, but it was the fifth time the Death Row Records co-founder had been taken from a courthouse to a hospital during proceedings in the case.
The latest trip came after Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen rejected Knight’s argument that he acted in self-defense when he was viciously attacked by men outside a Compton burger stand.
Authorities contend Knight intentionally hit the men, killing Terry Carter, 55, and injuring Cle “Bone” Sloan.
Knight’s attorney Matt Fletcher argued that his client was ambushed and was trying to escape from Sloan when Knight ran down the men in the attack captured on security video.
“There’s no intent to kill,” Fletcher said in court while asking the judge to dismiss the case. “There’s an intent to survive.”
Coen, however, said it appeared Knight, 49, wasn’t attempting to flee but instead trying to kill someone when he accelerated forward in the truck. The judge did throw out one of two hit-and-run counts, saying the charge applies to one event even if there are multiple victims. He also reduced bail from $25 million to $10 million.
Knight appeared to be OK as he looked at members of his family in the gallery and shuffled out of the courtroom in ankle shackles and handcuffs. He was later taken to the hospital.
Knight has diabetes and a blood clot near his lung, his lawyer previously said. Before word of his hospitalization was public, his fiancee, Toi Kelly, said outside court that Knight’s health had been improving.
Knight could face life in prison if convicted in the case. He has prior felony convictions for armed robbery and assault with a gun. Knight pleaded no contest in a 1995 assault on two rap entertainers and was sentenced to five years’ probation.
He was sentenced to prison in February 1997 for violating terms of the probation by taking part in a fight at a Las Vegas hotel hours before Shakur was fatally wounded in a drive-by attack as he rode in Knight’s car. Shakur’s slaying remains unsolved.