Former rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight pleaded not guilty Tuesday to murder charges in a fatal hit-and-run incident before complaining of chest pains in court and being taken to the hospital.
Knight, 49, stood in a defendant’s box next to his attorneys and intently read the complaint against him as the hearing opened.
Wearing a Los Angeles County orange inmate jumpsuit, he glanced back into the gallery several times in the Compton, California, courtroom during the brief hearing and answered the judge’s questions politely with, “Yes, sir, your honor.”
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Shortly afterward, Knight spent several years in prison for violating parole on assault and weapons convictions. That prison time — along with Shakur’s death, feuds between Knight and a number of rappers and desertions by Dr. Dre, Snoop and others — contributed to the label’s bankruptcy in 2006.
In August, Knight and two other people were shot while inside a celebrity-filled Sunset Strip party hosted by singer Chris Brown on the eve of the MTV Video Music Awards.
