Rap mogul Suge Knight has been ordered to stand trial for murder following the hit-and-run incident involving two men in the car park of a Compton fast food restaurant on January 29.
The ruling was delivered yesterday (April 16) after a two-day preliminary hearing with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ronald S Coen.
Judge Ronald S Coen dismissed one of the two counts of hit-and-run. The result will see Knight stand for trial on one count of murder, one count of attempted murder and one count of hit-and-run following the incident in January.
If convicted, Knight could be sentenced to life in prison.
Judge Ronald S Coen also lowered Knight’s bail to $10m (£6.7m) from $25m (£16.7m).
The rap mogul recently collapsed in court after the judge ordered his bail bet be set at $25m (£16.7m). Judge Ronald S Coen said the huge bail fee was justified as the hip-hop mogul was already on bail over a separate robbery case at the time of his arrest.
BBC News reports that Matthew Fletcher, acting in Knight’s defence, argued that the amount was both “absurd” and “clearly excessive”.
After his collapse, Fletcher told the court that his client, who is diabetic and has a blood clot, hadn’t received any medication since Thursday and claimed he was being kept in solitary confinement without proper access to medication. Knight reportedly hit his head on a chair as he fell.
Knight has suffered various health problems since his arrest and has had to leave court in an ambulance four times.
He has said he is blind in one eye and has only 15 per cent vision in his other eye. He also said he was having difficulty understanding the trial as he was shot six times last year and has a blood clot in his lungs, adding that he had lost 35 pounds as a result of his injuries.
Earlier this week, a man at the centre of the hit-and-run allegations said “he won’t snitch” and refused to formally identify Knight to police.
According to Associated Press, Cle ‘Bone’ Sloan testified on Monday (April 13) that he did punch Knight leading to the attack, but refused to share any other details.
“I will not be used to send Suge Knight to prison,” Sloan said, stating that he didn’t want to be a “snitch”. In a previous interview with the police, Sloan previously said that he didn’t want to “be the guy who says [Knight] killed Terry [Carter]”.
“Every day, I try to forget it. I just know, I screwed up, and Terry’s dead,” Sloan added.