Suge Knight Reaches $1.5 Million Settlement To Avoid Retrial In Hit-And-Run Case

Suge Knight has reached a $1.5 million settlement with the family of Terry Carter, the man he fatally struck with his vehicle outside a Compton burger stand in 2015. The agreement was finalized during a court hearing on Tuesday, April 29, just days before jury selection was set to begin in what would have been a retrial. The original civil trial ended in a mistrial in 2022, after jurors were deadlocked 7-5 in favor of finding Knight liable for Carter’s death. Under the terms of the settlement, Carter’s widow, Lillian Carter, and the couple’s two daughters, Nekaya and Crystal, will each receive $500,000. Before the court approved the deal, Knight inquired about the possibility of proceeding to trial without his attorney, David Kenner, who had recently filed a motion to withdraw from the case. However, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Long confirmed jury selection would proceed on Thursday with or without Kenner, stating, “There would be no further continuances. This case is out of time.” While Lillian Carter expressed dissatisfaction with the financial outcome, she said settling spared the family the emotional toll of another drawn-out trial.

“I’m not happy with the outcome of it, at all, but I don’t want to give him another opportunity to put on a clown show and act like a bitch,” she told Rolling Stone. “Maybe somebody will shank him in jail.”

Knight, the former Death Row Records CEO, pleaded no contest in 2018 to voluntary manslaughter for Carter’s death, which occurred following an altercation near the set of Straight Outta Compton on January 29, 2015. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison and is currently serving that sentence.

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