Suge Knight to serve 28 years for manslaughter

Death Row Records co-founder Marion “Suge” Knight will serve 28 years in prison, after pleading no contest to a voluntary manslaughter charge relating to a 2015 hit-and-run.

Knight, who had been charged with murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run and was facing a life sentence if convicted, struck a deal with prosecutors just days before jury selection was due to begin for his 1 October trial.

In 2015, Knight became involved in a fist fight with Cle “Bone” Sloan, who was consulting on the NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton.

While fleeing the fight, Knight clipped Sloan with his vehicle, and then “ran over businessman Terry Carter, who died from his injuries, before speeding away from the scene”, The Independent says.

The Guardian reports that the plea deal calls for Knight to serve “22 years in prison on the voluntary manslaughter count, and another six years because it is a third-strike violation”.

Under the plea deal, separate charges against Knight of robbery and making criminal threats will be dismissed. Formal sentencing will be carried out on 4 October.