LOS ANGELES _ Former rap impresario Marion "Suge" Knight faces a new criminal charge accusing him of threatening to harm the director of the hit movie "Straight Outta Compton."
Knight, 52, appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Thursday and pleaded not guilty to a grand jury indictment accusing him of threatening death or bodily injury against director F. Gary Gray on Aug. 8, 2014. Knight smiled at his family seated in the front row, including his son, who wore a T-shirt that said, "FREE SUGE."
Gray's film was a biopic about N.W.A, a seminal rap group from the early days of the genre. Knight, who is depicted in the movie, is from Compton and was heavily involved in the city's rap movement in the 1980s and '90s. After the demise of N.W.A, Knight co-founded Death Row Records with one of the group's founding members, Dr. Dre.
The indictment is the latest in a long history of legal troubles for Knight, who also is charged with murder and attempted murder after a dispute during the filming of a commercial for "Straight Outta Compton" months after the alleged threat.
In that case, Knight is accused of barreling his red truck into two men in the parking lot of a Compton burger stand in late January 2015, killing 55-year-old Terry Carter and injuring Cle "Bone" Sloan. Footage from a security camera shows Knight _ who has pleaded not guilty and says he acted in self-defense _ plowing his truck into the men. Knight fled the scene, but later turned himself in.
Knight _ who was out on bail at the time of the fatal hit-and-run _ is also charged in a separate robbery case.
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