Rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight was due to appear in court today charged with murder and attempted murder after running over two men in a car park.
Knight, the 49-year-old co-founder of influential label Death Row Records, was taken into custody on suspicion of murder on Friday after surrendering to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies.
Prosecutors allege that Knight intended to run down a friend and another man after an argument on a movie set. One of the men was killed.
His lawyer says Knight accidentally ran over the men as he tried to escape a vicious attack.
Knight’s initial bail of $2 million was revoked after a court commissioner agreed with authorities that he was a potential flight risk and could intimidate witnesses.
The music executive, who helped launch the careers of as Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty.
Knight was out on bail in a separate robbery case when the men were hit.
Knight was at the centre of one of the most notorious rap conflicts of the 1990s, pitting Tupac Shakur against Biggie Smalls in an East Coast-West Coast rivalry.
He was sent to prison for nearly five years for badly beating a rival with Shakur at a Las Vegas hotel, just hours before the rapper was fatally shot while riding in Knight’s car.
