Suge Knight's Parole Board Hearing Postponed

02/12/2003 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Yves Erwin Salomon

(2/12/03, 3 p.m. ET) -- Marion "Suge" Knight will have to wait to get his day in court. The imprisoned CEO of Tha Row Records was scheduled to have a parole hearing in front of the California prison board on Tuesday (February 11), but the hearing was postponed for several weeks to review a request by Knight's lawyer, David Chesnoff, to attend, according to Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the California Board Of Prison Terms.

Chesnoff was initially barred from attending the hearing. Sessa explained the reasoning to the Los Angeles Times prior to the postponement, saying, "This is not a trial and Mr. Knight is not entitled to an attorney. All parolees are in custody of the state--if they break the conditions of their parole, they go back to prison."

Knight has been in Los Angeles county jail since December 23, when he was detained for violating the terms of his parole by employing gang members that police believe were involved in some recent shootings.

Chesnoff maintains that he was assured by the parole board that Knight wouldn't have any problems as long as he didn't participate in any criminal activity. Chesnoff said, "I met personally with the parole people on Suge's behalf and they told me they understood there would be circumstances, based on the kind of rap music genre that he was involved in, where he might come into contact with people that they think have gang affiliations."

Chesnoff continued, "They said as long as he wasn't involved in street activity, they didn't have a problem. Then, all of a sudden, they turn around and violate him for associating with his own employees. It's insane."

Authorities plan to introduce pictures of Knight at social functions with gang members and making gang gestures with his hand. Knight's attorney maintains that Knight paid for the photos and that he was using them for a video on West Coast hand signs.

Knight was placed on state probation in 1995 when he pleaded no contest to two counts of assault, and he was placed on federal probation in 1995 when he pleaded guilty to federal charges of trying to commit a drug-related offense and conspiracy.

Knight was released from prison in August of 2001 after serving four-and-a-half years of a nine-year sentence for violating federal and state probation on the night of September 7, 1996, when Knight, Tupac Shakur, and members of their entourage were caught on videotape beating up a man in a Las Vegas casino. Later that same night, Shakur was killed in a drive-by shooting.

-- Yves Erwin Salomon, New York

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