Suge Knight's lawyer files to dismiss murder charges
Embattled hip-hop mogul Suge Knight's lawyer has filed a motion to dismiss murder charges against his client, arguing that prosecutors failed to name him as the driver behind January's (15) fatal hit-and-run incident.
The Death Row Records co-founder is currently behind bars, accused of hitting and killing a friend, Terry Carter, as he attempted to race away from an altercation on a film set in Los Angeles.
A second man, actor Cle Sloan, was also hit as Knight made his
getaway. He was hospitalized with multiple injuries.
Knight was subsequently charged with murder and attempted murder,
and he pleaded not guilty to the counts in April (15), when a judge
set his bail at $10 million .
But in new paperwork filed by Knight's lawyer Matthew Fletcher,
obtained by the New York Daily News, the legal representative is
urging the judge to dismiss both charges on the basis prosecutors
did not specifically name Knight as the driver of the truck that
injured Sloan and killed Carter.
The documents read: "The defendant was never identified as the
person who was driving the vehicle that hit Mr. Carter or Mr.
Sloan. This failure to prove the identity of the driver is fatal to
the People's case."
Fletcher's filing continues, "There is not a single case in the
entire world of California jurisprudence in which a defendant was
held to answer after preliminary hearing without being first
identified as the perpetrator of the crime."
Last month (Apr15), Sloan testified during a preliminary hearing
but admitted his recollection of what happened was at best hazy,
and he refused to be the "snitch" responsible for putting Knight
behind bars indefinitely.
Fletcher's motion to dismiss the charges will be discussed at a
hearing in front of a judge on 29 May (15).