Knight pleads guilty in battery case
Rap producer Marion "Suge" Knight has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery for beating a woman in a Las Vegas parking lot last year.
Knight entered the plea in Las Vegas Justice Court in a deal that dismissed two felony drug charges and one felony coercion charge, court information officer Michael Sommermeyer said Wednesday.
Tuesday's plea came a day after Knight was treated in an Arizona hospital for facial injuries from a fight after the NBA All-Star Game. Knight was not charged in that incident.
Las Vegas police arrested Knight in August. Officers said they saw the 43-year-old co-founder of Death Row Records striking Melissa Isaac while holding a knife in a parking lot near the Strip.
Isaac, who identified herself to police as Knight's girlfriend, was not stabbed and was treated and released for her injuries. Knight was found to be carrying Ecstasy and hydrocodone, police said.
Knight was facing mandatory probation and up to four years in a Nevada state prison on each of the drug charges.
Knight's attorneys, David Chesnoff and Richard Schonfeld, have said they had evidence that would have defended Knight.
"We had gathered substantial exculpatory evidence, and this was a fair and reasonable resolution. Mr. Knight is appreciative of the resolution," Chesnoff said.
Justice of the Peace Eric Goodman ordered Knight into counseling and fined him $340. He was ordered to court in August for a status check.
In the 1990s, Knight's Death Row Records released rap albums by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur, who was fatally shot in Las Vegas in 1996. Knight has filed for bankruptcy, and the record company was sold at auction in June.
The former UNLV football player has a history of legal problems. Knight was convicted of assault in 1992 and placed on probation, then jailed for five years in 1996 for violating that probation.
He was returned to jail in 2003 for violating parole, that time for punching a parking attendant at a Hollywood club.
