*A judge was thisclose to having Marion “Suge” Knight forcibly removed from his jail cell Wednesday after he claimed to be too sick to attend a court hearing in his robbery case.
Los Angeles Superior Court Ronald S. Coen said Knight told deputies he was too ill to leave his downtown LA jail cell. Coen said he didn’t order deputies to forcibly remove him because the Death Row Records co-founder has a hearing in his separate murder case scheduled for Friday.
Instead, the judge delayed Wednesday’s proceedings to coincide with that hearing.
But Coen said he would take a harder line with Knight, who is charged along with comedian Katt Williams with stealing a celebrity photographer’s camera. In the separate case, Knight is accused of running over two men with his pickup truck, killing one and seriously injuring the other.
“No one refuses to come to my court,” Coen told a prosecutor and an attorney for Williams.
Knight’s court appearances have been marked by frequent medical episodes, occasional outbursts and shake-ups to his legal team.
On Wednesday, Coen apologized to Williams’ lawyer Shawn Holley for making her return to court Friday for a scheduling hearing.
“I can’t afford to play any games” with Knight, Coen said.
Knight fired his lawyer in the robbery case at a previous hearing, and has not yet hired a new one. Coen said he would appoint an attorney for Knight if he didn’t have one by Friday.
Knight and Williams have pleaded not guilty to taking the photographer’s camera in Beverly Hills in September, just days after Knight was wounded in a nightclub shooting.
Knight also has pleaded not guilty in the murder case, which was filed after he ran over two men outside a Compton burger stand in January. His attorney has said he was fleeing an ambush. Coen has determined there is enough evidence for Knight to stand trial in the case, but Knight’s attorney Matt Fletcher is scheduled to argue it should be dismissed at Friday’s hearing.
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