Suge Knight’s Fiancee, Business Partner Charged with Violating Court Order
Suge Knight‘s fiancée, Toilin Kelly, and the former rap mogul’s business partner, Mark Blankenship, have each been charged with violating a court order when they allegedly sold sealed video evidence related to Knight’s murder trial to TMZ, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office announced on Wednesday.
The pair was indicted on July 28th for one felony count each of conspiracy to violate a court order, conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to commit grand theft. The indictment was unsealed on Wednesday following Kelly’s plea of not guilty to the charges. Blankenship will be arraigned at a later date on the same charges.
Kelly and Blankenship are accused of arranging the sale of surveillance video of the fatal hit-and-run incident that Knight is accused of perpetrating in January 2015, which killed Terry Carter. Knight, who is awaiting trial on murder charges for Carter’s death and attempted murder of Cle “Bone” Sloan who was also struck during the incident, has pleaded not guilty and claims he acted in self-defense.
Kelly and Blankenship allegedly began working on the video sale two weeks after the incident and spent nearly a month calling and texting between themselves, TMZ, Knight, attorneys and other individuals to arrange the sale of the video surveillance footage, according to the indictment. The indictment alleges that some of the parties were aware that that there was a protective order that prohibited the release of the video. In the communications listed in the indictment, the parties negotiated the price for the video, which was allegedly sold to TMZ for $55,000.
If convicted on the three
felony counts, Kelly and Blankenship face up to three years in prison. The pair
is also accused of allegedly assisting in a plan to bribe witnesses to testify
on Knight’s behalf. Knight and his attorney Matthew Fletcher are accused of
orchestrating the bribery. Fletcher has denied the allegations.