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Cops: Knight just filing legal moves
By Robert Macy
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Claims by rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight that a Metro Police detective lied about an interview with a suspect in Tupac Shakur's murder is nothing more than legal maneuvering by Knight's attorneys, a police official said.
"This is just Marion Knight's lawyers doing what they're paid to do, get Marion Knight out of jail," Metro homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said. "This is just legal maneuvering by the attorneys. That's what attorneys get paid for."
Attorneys for Knight filed a motion in Superior Court in Los Angeles on Friday, asking that charges of probation violation by Knight be thrown out. The motion contends that Metro Detective Brent Becker lied about an interview with Orlando Anderson, who has been identified as a possible suspect in Shakur's killing.
Shakur was shot on Flamingo Road near the Las Vegas Strip on Sept. 7 while riding in a car driven by Knight. Shakur died six days later at University Medical Center.
A gang of men including Knight, Shakur and others from Knight's Death Row Records company had allegedly beaten up Anderson in a fight at the MGM Grand hotel-casino before the shooting.
Knight's probation on an assault conviction was revoked over the MGM incident, and he faces up to nine years in prison. His lawyers contend the ruling relied on perjured testimony by Becker at a hearing in November.
According to an affidavit prepared by Compton, Calif., police to get search warrants for a gang sweep in Southern California, Becker knew by Sept. 16 that police in Compton and Las Vegas had received numerous tips that Anderson was responsible for Shakur's shooting.
Becker testified that he only wanted to talk to Anderson about the MGM beating, and that Anderson wasn't a suspect in the murder.
However, Anderson's attorneys and Los Angeles police sources told the Los Angeles Times otherwise. Becker told Anderson on Oct. 2 that he was a suspect in Shakur's shooting, the paper reported Monday.
Petersen denied Becker had told Anderson he was a suspect.
"When he went to Los Angeles to talk to Anderson, he only asked Anderson questions about the fight at the MGM," Petersen said. "He never asked him about the homicide. If he would have asked him questions about the homicide, he would have read him his Miranda rights.
"Anderson asked Becker if he was going to take him back to Las Vegas, and Becker's response was 'Why should I?'"
Informants reported that Anderson got out of a Cadillac, yelled at Shakur, then fired about a dozen rounds into the BMW Knight was driving before the Cadillac sped away, the affidavit said.
Petersen called that account incorrect, reiterating claims that it was a drive-by shooting.
"No one else has said anything about (the assailant) getting out of the suspect vehicle," Petersen said. "That is obviously incorrect, completely contrary to what all of the eyewitnesses said."
Police have interviewed dozens of witnesses, including many members of the rap star's entourage, but have failed to come up with solid leads that could result in an arrest.
Petersen discounted any problems between the Las Vegas and Compton departments.
"We have had a lot of cooperation and received a lot of information from them," he said.
The information in the police affidavit is unsubstantiated and unconfirmed, and comes from informants who provide no proof for a criminal case, Petersen said.
Asked if Anderson was a suspect in the Shakur shooting, Petersen replied:
"We're not ruling anybody out at this time, but for us to say he's the only suspect is incorrect. There are people out there who believe Marion Knight is a suspect."
In a television show last week, Shakur's mother, Afeni Shakur, suggested Knight and Death Row cheated her son out of earnings from his records.
Knight, 31, is in jail awaiting a Feb. 28 hearing on the probation violation. Death Row produced the No. 1 album in the nation this week, the soundtrack to the movie "Gridlock'd," featuring songs by Shakur, among others.
Metro Police say they have been stymied in the shooting because Knight and his entourage refuse to cooperate. Unless a witness comes forward, they say they will be unlikely to make an arrest.
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