An attorney representing the family of Terry Carter Jr. wants Suge Knight to pay $81 million to the man slain in 2015. Knight was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the killing after pleading no contest in 2018. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
For an ongoing wrongful death lawsuit, attorney Lance Behringer revealed to a Los Angeles courtroom on Tuesday the hefty amount the family is seeking.
“Dying on the concrete floor alone at Tam’s Burgers was not a natural death. He was taken from these three women,” Behringer said.
He explained that each woman should be given one million dollars for each of the 27 years Terry Carter likely would’ve lived had he never been killed by Knight.
He added: “Nobody’s comfortable talking about money, But that’s what we have to do.”
Making his case of wrongful death, Behringer called back to Knight's old testimony, projecting it on two separate screens for the courtroom to see.
“I was going straight. I seen the guy in the front of my truck,” Knight said at the time. “I seen the guy in my mirror. I wanted to make sure to get this guy, and I did.”
Behringer used the quote to argue that Knight clearly saw Carter before running him over.
“At the moment in time when defendant Knight reversed and pulled out of Tam’s — at this moment in time, Bone is on the ground. Whether you believe there was a gun there or not, there was no gun being pointed at [Knight] at that time,” Behringer later said. “The gun doesn’t matter. At this point in time, there’s no threat.”
Knight’s defense attorney David Kenner claimed that his client viewed Carter as a friend and was “devastated” by the fatal incident. He asked the jury to "render a verdict of not liable.”
Jury deliberation began Tuesday afternoon.
[Via]