On Wednesday, Suge Knight testified about the 2015 “Murder Burger” incident that left one man dead and another injured at Tam’s Burger in Compton.
The testimony was a part of a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit that was brought forward by the victim, Terry Carter’s, family. Suge is currently serving 28 years behind bars for the murder. Even though Suge was originally charged with murder, the charge was lessened to voluntary manslaughter as a result of the plea deal. That day, Suge was trying to get a meeting with Dr. Dre because authorities were telling him that Dre had put a hit out on him in 2014 when he was shot 7 times outside of a Chris Brown afterparty.
However, Suge testified that Dre was not behind the shooting because of his prior history with Dre.
“Dr. Dre—we’ve been really good friends for years. Matter of fact, I know his kids, he knows my kids. And I was told that he had paid some guys to harm me,” Knight said. “I didn’t believe it because authorities do lie. So I went up there. …I was going to talk to him and say, ‘Hey man, I’m not going to react to what authorities say about you having something to do with me getting shot. I just want to make you aware they are saying this, putting it out there.’”
Suge also testified against rumors that he met with Dre and Cube over the way how his character was depicted in the movie, or to demand money for his likeness. Suge maintained that he went to talk to Dre about what the authorities were telling him. However, as he was leaving the set, someone caught him and said “Hey, Cube wants you to come [back] because we’ve been trying to catch you to take care of you.”
Suge said that he did not want to wait around very long and that’s when Cle “Bone” Sloan apparently got “aggressive” over a joke Suge said. Suge added that he saw someone pull something over his windshield, and when asked if it was the restraining order that Dr. Dre allegedly issued him, he said “no.”
Suge said that after he left the office, he got a call from a man that he said was Carter and they agreed to meet at the home of Dwayne “Knob” Johnson, who lived across the street from Tam’s. Suge testified that when he parked his car next to Carter’s, he was ambushed, and Sloan began to punch him through the window of his car with a gun in his hand.
Suge said that he “feared for his life,” and acted in self-defense when he hit Carter and Sloan, killing one and injuring the other.
However, the Carter family’s attorney, Lance Behringer, did not believe Knight. Behringer asked Knight, “You want this jury to believe that Bone Sloan was there to kill you, and he had a gun that he intended to use to kill you, but instead of using that gun, he decided to throw punches. Is that true?” Knight replied, “That’s not true at all,” and Behringer continued. “The truth is this: Tam’s is called ‘Murder Burger’ for a reason. One thing we all know is, you can’t do anything by the area of Tam’s because of the cameras. …Nobody pulled their gun out by Tam’s. Everyone knows there’s cameras. Ask anybody, they call Tam’s ‘Murder Burger.’ Lots of people who didn’t know they have cameras there, they’re still in prison today.”
Suge said that he did not think Carter and Sloan were trying to kill him because he had not done anything to make them want to kill him. However, he said that there was a “contract,” but did not clarify what exactly he meant.
