Rapper Dr. Dre has won a battle to keep his financial records out of court after jailed rap boss Suge Knight accused the producer of paying $20,000 (GBP15,500) to have him killed.
In a signed declaration, Knight claims his former business partner hired a hitman to kill him when he showed up on the set of biopic Straight Outta Compton in Compton, California on the day he is charged with intentionally killing a man with his truck.
The fallen rap mogul's defence team maintains the statement backs up Suge's claims he acted in self-defence as he tried to race away from a hostile situation.
Knight claims Dr. Dre, real name Andre Young, hired the hitman, but the rapper has called the allegations “absurd”, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen agreed, granting the hip-hop star's order to quash a subpoena for his financial records.
Knight, who appeared in court on Friday (06Oct17), is accused of killing Terry Carter outside Tam’s Burgers following an argument on the set of the movie Straight Outta Compton. Security camera footage at the scene shows Knight driving his Ford F-150 truck into Carter and Cle Sloan, who survived his injuries.
Knight later turned himself in to police.
His latest damning declaration was made public earlier this week (beg02Oct17). Suge claimed a private investigator showed him the cheque from Dr. Dre's personal account - made out to the hitman.
He wrote: "This check is critical in the defense of my case. This check tends to show that at least one of the individuals present at the scene... had been paid a substantial amount of money to participate in my murder."
But Knight admits he never got a copy of the cheque and the investigator now claims it does not exist.
At Friday's hearing, Judge Coen also postponed Knight’s murder trial, which was to set begin in January (18), after his attorneys requested more time to prepare.
Knight will return to court for a pretrial hearing next month (14Nov17).
