Hip hop mogul ‘Suge’ Knight charged in girlfriend’s beating

By Mary Manning (contact)

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008 | 4:57 p.m.

Marion "Suge" Knight

On an August night, Las Vegas Metro Police said they found hip hop mogul Marion "Suge" Knight beating his girlfriend. Knight now faces criminal charges.

He has been charged with two counts of felony drug possession and one count of misdemeanor battery, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Clark County district attorney's office in Las Vegas Justice Court today.

The complaint accuses Knight of hitting a woman identified as Melissa Isaac. Police who saw the encounter said they arrested Knight when they saw him beating the woman and brandishing a knife in a parking lot near the Las Vegas Strip.

The woman was not stabbed by the bankrupt Death Row Records founder, but she was treated at a local hospital for injuries. The complaint also said that Knight had Ecstasy and hydrocodone at the time of his arrest.

Knight was released after posting $19,000 in bail.

Defense attorney Richard Schonfeld of the firm Chesnoff and Schonfeld, said that Knight planned to enter not guilty pleas to the charges at his Dec. 16 arraignment.

"We're going to vigorously defend Mr. Knight against these charges," Schonfeld said.

Knight could face mandatory probation and up to four years in a Nevada state prison on each of the drug charges. He could receive up to six months in jail on the battery charge.

Knight's company, Death Row Records, released gangster rap albums by Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. In the early days of rap, the company sold tens of millions of albums during the 1990s.

A federal judge ordered a bankruptcy trustee to take over Death Row Records in 2006, ruling that the label had been grossly mismanaged. Knight's filing for bankruptcy cut off a legal move by the court to appoint someone to take control of the company and Knight's assets.

In June the record company was auctioned for $24 million to Global Music Group Inc. of New York.