Suge Knight's Lawyer Says He's Jailed Under 'Outrageous' Restrictions

Marion (Suge) Knight has fewer rights than detainees at Guantanamo, his lawyer claimed Thursday as he filed an appeal to overturn the rap mogul's "outrageous" jail restrictions.

Knight, 49, is being held "virtually incommunicado" on a murder charge in Los Angeles County jail after prosecutors convinced the court to curtail his contact with the outside world and set bail at a whopping $25 million, his lawyer Matthew Fletcher told the Daily News.

He's not allowed to use the phone or have visits with family members - and he can't meet with anyone working on his murder case other than his lawyer, Fletcher said.

A forensic reconstructionist Fletcher wants to hire as an expert witness can't even visit, the lawyer said.

"If experts can't speak to him, they can't do their job. We will never be able to present a defense," Fletcher told The News. "This truly should shock people."

He said the inability to speak with Knight by phone means every conversation requires two hours in the car and several hours in the jailhouse waiting room.

"This is the most important time for him to have access to lawyers and experts. He's supposed to be innocent until proven guilty," Fletcher said. "They wouldn't allow this at Guantanamo Bay."

Knight is due for a preliminary hearing involving evidence and testimony on April 13.

"I've never heard of anything quite this extreme in a high profile case. It's not common. But could there be explanations? Yes. And I will be eager to hear it," Stan Goldman, a former public defender and professor at Loyola Law School, told The News Thursday.

He said defendants generally have a constitutional right to work with experts when relevant.

"These are the kinds of restrictions we sometimes see in terrorism cases, not cases of someone charged with (fatal) hit and run," said David Fathi, director of the ACLU national prison project.

"It's not inconceivable the state has evidence to justify these restrictions, but it would have to be evidence of an extraordinary nature. And it seems to me that simply monitoring or recording his communications would be an adequate safeguard," he said.

When prosecutors argued for Knight's $25 million bail, they included a laundry list of Knight's past violations in their motion, calling the cigar-chomping Compton native a "prolific and unrepentant criminal."

Fletcher said his client is not a threat and that Knight actually was the victim in the Jan. 29 parking lot confrontation that ended with the death of Terry Carter.

Surveillance video shows former gang member Cle (Bone) Sloan punching Knight through his driver side window before Knight reversed and then gunned his engine forward, mowing down Carter.

Fletcher said Knight feared he was the victim of an armed assault and had no choice but to drive forward to escape.

Prosecutors claim Knight intentionally ran over Sloan and Carter.

Knight is sleeping on the floor of his cell in the Men's Central Jail because his mattress is too small for his hulking frame, Fletcher said.

He added that Knight may have suffered a stroke in custody and that doctors recently wanted to give him an MRI to check on that possibility.

He said Knight refused citing a bullet lodged in his skull.

Knight previously has said he took a slug in his head during the drive-by shooting on Sept. 7, 1996, that resulted in Tupac Shakur's death six days later.

"They had IVs in both of (Knight's) arms and were attempting to give him an MRI," Fletcher said Thursday. "He refused. It could kill him. It's a powerful magnet that could suck the bullet through your head."

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