Rap executive testifies he tried to end fight

Taking the stand in his own defense, rap music executive Marion “Suge” Knight testified Monday that he did not punch or kick anyone but instead tried to break up a fight Sept. 7 at a Las Vegas hotel.

With prosecutors contending that he took part in the fight at the MGM Grand and should be imprisoned for violating his probation, Knight countered that his “main objective” was to “break up the rumble.”

But, he said, his recall is hazy about many details, including who did what when the fight broke out. He said he had no idea about why it erupted. And though he had “nothing to hide,” he never came forward to provide hotel security officers, Las Vegas police or his Los Angeles County probation officer with details of the incident--even after his top artist, Tupac Shakur, was mortally wounded by gunfire hours later.

“It all happened so fast,” he said of the hotel incident. “It was like a bad dream.”

If probation is revoked, Knight, 31, who heads Death Row Records, the nation’s top rap label, faces nine years in state prison. Judge J. Stephen Czuleger may issue a decision as soon as testimony ends today.

Hope--and frustration--ran high Monday among about two dozen of Knight’s supporters. Before the hearing began, they gathered in the courthouse hallway to hold hands and pray.

Danny Boy, one of Death Row’s top new discoveries, led the group, offering prayers for Knight and for “our enemies.”

“Amen,” came the chorus.

Knight has been on probation since Feb. 9, 1995, when he entered no-contest pleas to two counts of assault stemming from a 1992 attack on two aspiring rappers in a Hollywood recording studio.

Judge John Ouderkirk imposed a suspended nine-year prison term and five years probation.

Knight has been in Los Angeles County Jail since Oct. 22 for four alleged probation violations, the most serious being that he was involved in the Sept. 7 fight--because it was an assault and he was on probation for an assault.

Taking the stand Monday in jail blues, he said that he, Shakur and two others were walking through the hotel--moments after a Mike Tyson prizefight there had ended--when he saw Shakur begin to run ahead of him.

Knight said he ran after Shakur. When he caught up, he said, he saw Shakur “starting to have a confrontation, a physical confrontation, with a guy on the ground,” later identified as Orlando Anderson, 22, of Lakewood, a reputed gang member.

Shakur was fatally wounded by gunfire later that night while riding in Knight’s car near the Las Vegas Strip, and Knight was wounded. No suspect has yet been arrested.

Knight said he was wearing alligator shoes with wood soles and slipped on the hotel carpet, onto the pile of people. Then, he said, using a “little foul language,” he tried to break up the fight.

“Did you punch anyone in that altercation?” defense attorney David Kenner asked.

“No, sir,” Knight replied.

“Did you kick anyone in that altercation?”

“Absolutely not.”

According to a hotel surveillance videotape, one of Knight’s Death Row employees, Alton McDonald, 30, of Compton, joined in the fight, trying to kick Anderson. A man wearing a black outfit, believed to be another of Knight’s associates, also joined in the fight. But Knight seemed unable Monday to positively identify the man.

Knight said he again tried to break up the fight. People grabbed for his legs, he said, but he pulled himself away and, accompanied by Shakur and the others, hustled out of the casino.

Under cross-examination by Deputy Dist. Atty. Bill Hodgman, however, Knight said he did not know what prompted Shakur to run after Anderson.

He also said, “I don’t recall exactly who was doing anything.”

And he volunteered: “I don’t want to be incarcerated. I definitely want to be on the streets.”

Watching the surveillance tape of Knight, Shakur and the others leaving the hotel after the incident, Czuleger turned to Knight and asked: “Are you smiling there?”

“No,” Knight said. “I [was] tired. And upset.”