Suge Knight Facing 28-Year Prison Sentence After Pleading No Contest In Fatal Hit-And-Run Case

Suge Knight is facing 28 years in prison after pleading no contest to one count of voluntary manslaughter on Thursday, in connection with a 2015 hit-and-run that left one man dead. 

The 53-year-old Death Row Records co-founder, whose real name is Marion Hugh Knight Jr., was accused of using his truck to run over two men during an altercation outside a restaurant in Compton, California on January 29, 2015, killing Terry Carter and injuring Cle “Bone” Sloan.

Knight was handed 22 years for the single count of voluntary manslaughter, double the maximum penalty of 11 years due to Knight’s prior convictions, according to a press release from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office. Knight received another five years because the nature of his crimes constituted a “serious and violent felony,” according to the release, with one more year added for the allegation that he used a “deadly weapon” — in this case, the truck that he was driving during the deadly altercation in 2015.

Knight’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 4, where a judge is expected to dismiss two other cases, according to the release: one involving allegations that Knight made “criminal threats” in 2014 and the other involving an allegation that Knight stole a woman’s camera that same year.

Previously, Knight had been facing a life sentence after being charged with one count each of hit-and-run, murder, and attempted murder, CNN reports. James Blatt, who was Knight’s attorney at the time, previously claimed that Knight’s actions were self-defense, according to CBS’ Los Angeles affiliate.

[Photo: Marion “Suge” Knight appears for a hearing at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center on March 9, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. By Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]