The wrongful death trial against notorious rapper Marion “Suge” Knight, who “ran a man over with his pickup truck and killed him,” in 2015, has been called off by the judge.
After entering a no contest plea, Knight, 56, is already serving a 28-year jail term for slamming his car into two men outside a Los Angeles drive-through restaurant, killing record producer Terry Carter and seriously hurting consultant Cle “Bone” Sloan.
On the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ set, the three men got into an argument, which led to the tragic events.
Five months after Carter’s death in January 2015, his wife and two kids sued Knight for civil wrongful death, suing for $81 million in damages.
The jury declared on Tuesday that there had been no agreement reached after two weeks of discussion. Five of the jurors were against finding Knight responsible for Carter’s death, while seven were in favor.
According to Cornell Law School, if the jury is unable to reach a decision, the judge may “order the jury to deliberate further or may declare a mistrial and discharge the jury.” Retrial in the case is planned.
One of the jurors described the discussion process to Rolling Stone as “intense.”
Someone passing by the jury room assumed an actual fight had broken out since it was so fierce. Yelling was heard.
Knight has argued in court that he was not careless when he ran over Carter and that Carter was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder at the time since he had been shot seven times at a nightclub in 2014.
In civil court, Carter’s wife and two daughters argued that they were each entitled to $1 million for each of the 27 years that Carter would have lived if Knight hadn’t killed him.
It’s bad, but the jurors put in a lot of effort. Crystal Carter, the daughter of Carter, told Rolling Stone, “It feels good to know we were the majority.
We are eager to retry the case in order to win justice for my dad. To achieve justice.
As opposed to earlier allegations of murder, attempted murder, and hit-and-run, which could have resulted in a life sentence for Knight, he pleaded no guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2018.
Knight passed out during a court hearing during the criminal trial. Two of his previous attorneys were charged with witness tampering, and his fiancee entered a no contest plea to selling the footage showing Knight running over the two men with his truck.
In the end, he received a 28-year prison term. Knight showed up on the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ set despite being unwelcome because of a protracted fight with Dr. Dre, who was present that day, according to reports at the time of the hit-and-run.
Sloan, a consultant on the movie, asked Knight to leave and the two got into an argument before Knight left.
Carter, a businessman and record producer, got involved, volunteered to mediate, and then suggested the guys convene for peace negotiations at a local burger shop.
Before Sloan arrived and a fight started between Knight and Carter, Carter and Knight were seen chatting in the drive-through parking lot.
Violence swiftly broke out during the altercation at Tam’s Burgers in the 1200 block of West Rosecrans Avenue.
In an attempt to flee, Knight hit Sloan with his car, causing him to fall to the ground, then ran over Carter, killing him.
Dr. Dre and Knight co-founded Death Row Records, and Knight has consistently denied hitting any guy on purpose.
The 56-year-old was a major figure in the 1990s gangster rap culture, and Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, and Snoop Dogg were formerly signed to his company.
After the business was forced into bankruptcy, Knight lost control of it.
Snoop Dogg bought the label in February of this year.
Knight had prior felonies for armed robbery and gun-assault convictions before he killed Carter.
For attacking two rap entertainers in a Hollywood recording studio in 1992, he entered a no contest plea in 1995 and received a five-year probationary period.
When he participated in a brawl at a Las Vegas hotel just hours before Shakur was tragically wounded in a drive-by shooting when he was riding in Knight’s car just east of the Las Vegas Strip, he broke the terms of that probation and was sentenced to jail in February 1997. Shakur’s murder is still unsolved.