Prosecutors on Wednesday charged rap impresario Marion "Suge" Knight and comedian Micah "Katt" Williams with stealing a camera from a photographer last month in Beverly Hills.
Knight was arrested without incident in Las Vegas while Williams was booked after turning himself in at a courthouse in Inglewood for arraignment on a separate criminal case, officials said.
The incident took place on September 5 outside of a music studio — just days after the Knight was released from the hospital after being shot multiple times at a private party for Chris Brown at the 1Oak nightclub in West Hollywood ahead of the MTV Video Music Awards.
Each man now faces one count of robbery. If convicted, Knight, who already has a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon, could face a maximum term of 30 years to life in jail. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said they will ask for bail to be set at $1 million for Knight and $75,000 for Williams. Williams could spend up to seven years behind bars, according to prosecutors.
"Mr. Knight was unaware that there was any warrant," Knight's attorney, Richard Schonfeld, said. "We will be addressing the circumstances in court."
The charge against Knight, the former head of the infamous Death Row Records, is the latest in a series of run-ins with the law dating back to the 1990s. Knight was sentenced in 1997 to nine years in state prison after violating probation for a prior assault. He served only over four years of that term before he was released.
But he soon returned to jail on parole violation in 2003 for assaulting a parking-lot attendant. Knight was arrested yet again in Las Vegas in 2008 on suspicion of drug possession and aggravated assault. The following year, Knight pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery and judge dismissed several felony charges against stemming from the 2008 case including drug charges and coercion.