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Suge Knight Says Dr. Dre Wrote $20,000 Check To Hitman For His Murder
Suge Knight in court with his attorney. He is currently facing charges of murder and attempted murder. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
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Marion 'Suge' Knight, former Death Row Records mogul, has claimed in a court filing that Dr. Dre paid $20,000 to have him killed.
Knight is currently in jail standing trial on murder and attempted murder charges after running over two men at a Compton burger stand in January 2015. Recent court filings include a declaration from Knight in which he claims to have been shown a $20,000 check with Dr. Dre's name on it; Knight believes the check was payment for his murder, and says it demonstrates he was acting out of self-defense during the 2015 incident.
The L.A. Times reports that Knight claims a private investigator showed him the check during a jailhouse visit in 2016, and that it was dated November 16, 2014, a couple months before Knight ran over the two men in Compton.
Knight says in the filing that he saw one of the supposed hitmen (whose name was on the alleged check) at the burger stand that night. "This check tends to show that at least one of the individuals present at the scene ... had been paid a substantial amount of money to participate in my murder," he wrote in his declaration. The Times points out this private investigator is no longer working on his case. Knight does not have a copy of the check, and the investigator also claims the check does not exist.
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Dr. Dre's attorney argued that his client's banking history was private and irrelevant to the case. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen agreed with him, denying a subpoena for Dr. Dre's banking records.
This is not the first time Knight has accused Dr. Dre of trying to have him killed. In October 2016, Knight filed a lawsuit against Dr. Dre for $300 million on claims that the producer had put multiple hits on him, and he previously accused Dr. Dre of collaborating with the Sheriff's Department to have him killed.
Besides standing trial for the murder and attempted murder charges in Compton, Knight was recently indicted for making death threats against Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray. Knight's murder trial was originally set to begin in January 2018, but has been pushed to April 9, 2018, according to the L.A. Times.
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