Marion 'Suge' Knight is innocent, his attorney says

Music entrepreneur Marion "Suge" Knight may have been arrested on suspicion of brandishing a handgun but his attorney says the rap industry legend never pointed a gun at anyone and that police did not find a weapon on him during a recent traffic stop.

Knight, who co-founded Death Row Records, was taken into custody by Los Angeles police after a man in South Los Angeles reported Wednesday that the rap mogul pointed a gun at him. Knight was also booked for driving on a suspended license, police said.

"He didn't have a gun. He's innocent," said Marc Brumer, Knight's attorney. "Suge Knight is a 45-year-old businessman with diabetes. He is not a person who would flash a gun at anybody."

After being informed of the incident, police detained Knight in a Cadillac Escalade in nearby Gardena shortly after 12 a.m. Thursday. He was arrested there without incident, authorities said. Knight, a Compton native, was released after posting $60,000 bail.

"There was never a gun found. He was very cooperative," Brumer said.

Brumer said Knight was in South Los Angeles to meet a young music artist he is developing. He said Knight stopped at a gas station and was surrounded by admirers who recognized him. Knight left the gas station without exiting the vehicle.

Knight helped develop Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg. He has had several run-ins with authorities since the 1990s. Shakur was in Knight's car in 1996 when he was shot and killed in Las Vegas. In 1992, Knight was convicted of assault and placed on probation. He was imprisoned in 1996 for violating that probation. Several years later, he violated probation again and was sent back to prison in 2003 for punching a parking attendant at a Hollywood nightclub.

Brumer says Knight has paid his debt to society and is now coping with his sick mother and struggling to recover from a gunshot wound he received in 2005 at pre-awards party honoring Kanye West.

-- Richard Winton

Photo credit: KTLA News

Comments

[kurt]

I have to chuckle at his attorney's comment. Obviously, I dont know whether Knight is guilty or not (or even that he will be charged by the DA) but the comment that he is a 45 year old businessman with diabetes (and its unstated implication that therefore he could not possibly have committed an offense) is laughably absurd. I wonder if the attorney who represented Knight in connection with his assault charge said the same thing.

Gads.

[ray]

Why isn't this thug in prison already?

[aaron]

Yea right, he was driving his car at midnight looking for a friend, and all the mean while knowing that he not license to drive a car in california, hes a 45 year old diabetic who some how can quite understand that he is not suppose to drive a vechicle. he Kurt your right his attorney comments are absurd!

[sitdownandbequiet]

"He is not a person who would flash a gun at anybody."

If he delivered that line with a straight face that guy must be an actor working a day job as an attorney.

[Ziggle]

Gee, of all the 45 year-old businessmen out there, what percentage have been: convicted of assault, AND violated probation and put in prison, AND sent back to prison for punching a parking attendant while he was still on probation?

Even in LA that's got to put him amongst a mighty small group.

I can't see what the diabetes has to do with anything, unless he's using a Twinkie defense.