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Judge hears arguments over Knight's probation violation
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge on Friday rebuffed defense arguments that the 1995 prosecution of Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight was unfair.
Knight has been jailed since November, when a judge revoked his state probation in a 1992 assault case. He could receive a nine-year sentence.
Knight's lawyer, David Kenner, argued at a sentencing hearing Friday that a prosecution witness lied on the stand and Kenner also questioned the original plea bargain reached in 1995.
Knight pleaded no contest in 1995 to assaulting two rap entertainers at a Hollywood recording studio in exchange for five years probation.
Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Czuleger ruled last year that Knight violated that order by taking part in a fight at a Las Vegas hotel on Sept. 7. Hours later, rap star Tupac Shakur was shot in a drive-by attack as he rode in Knight's car. Shakur died six days later.
Kenner argued that in the original plea bargain, the charges were to be reduced to misdemeanors and the "strikes" on his record removed. But under the state's three-strikes law, the felony convictions cannot be removed, he said.
Czuleger said the point was moot because Knight has already violated his probation.
It was unclear whether the judge would sentence Knight on Friday.
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