Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight is expected to be released from prison in April, after serving roughly four years of a nine-year prison sentence, a prison official said Tuesday.
Knight has been behind bars since 1997 for his involvement in a 1996 brawl in the lobby of Las Vegas' MGM Grand Hotel. At the time of the fight, Knight was on probation for assaulting two rappers in 1992. When Knight was caught on videotape kicking Los Angeles resident Orlando Anderson in the MGM lobby, the label executive was sent to prison.
California law makes Knight eligible for early release after serving at least half of his sentence, if he has a good behavior record and if he works or attends school while in prison, said Rich Subia, a spokesperson at Mule Creek, the Ione, California, state prison where Knight is incarcerated.
In 1999, the Los Angeles Police Department named Knight as a suspect in the 1997 slaying of rising East Coast rapper the Notorious B.I.G., but Knight never was charged in connection with the case.
