(AllHipHop News) Embattled rap mogul Suge Knight has delayed his murder trial in a bid to reduce his $10 million bail.
The Death Row Records co-founder has been behind bars for more than a year while he awaits trial on charges of murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run following a dispute in Compton, California in January, 2015, when he struck and killed his friend Terry Carter and injured actor Cle Sloan as he tried to drive away from a fight.
His trial was scheduled to begin on February 22, 2017, but it has now been pushed back to May (17) to give Knight and his legal team time to present new evidence in a bid to lower his bail.
According to the New York Daily News, Knight will file the bail motion in the near future and plans to present evidence to support his claims producer Dr. Dre tried to have him killed following a bad business deal.
He alleged Dre, real name Andre Young, hired a hitman to kill him during a party before the MTV Video Music Awards at 1 OAK in Los Angeles in 2014, when he was shot several times.
He also claimed Sloan was hired by Young and associates and paid $300,000 to take out Knight.
“We have a really great shot at our next bail hearing,” Knight’s fiancee Toi-Lin Kelly said as she left the Los Angeles courthouse earlier this week. “Suge is really willing to go to trial tomorrow. That’s how much compelling evidence we have. We are very ambitious about moving forward to trial.”
Meanwhile, Knight is also battling a wrongful death lawsuit brought against him by Carter’s widow in June last year (15).
Former N.W.A band members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre were also initially named in the suit, but in October a judge cleared them of any responsibility for Carter’s death.
The altercation which led to Carter’s death took place on the set of N.W.A. biopic “Straight Outta Compton,” but neither Dre nor Cube were present when the trouble began.
Knight and Dre became rivals when the latter ended his dealings with Suge and Death Row Records and set up his own successful label.