News of August 6, 2001
Suge Knight Is Free Again After Nearly Five Years
On August 6, 2001, Suge Knight left a federal prison in Oregon. He had served time for the Las Vegas brawl the night Tupac was shot.
Suge Knight is free again. On Monday, August 6, 2001, the founder of Death Row Records left a federal prison in Sheridan in the U.S. state of Oregon and flew to Los Angeles, as ABC News reported. He had served just over half of a nine-year sentence.
The Sentence Was Tied to the Night in Las Vegas
Knight had been on probation since 1995. At that time, he had pleaded “no contest” in the case involving an assault on two rappers at a Hollywood recording studio in 1992, thus not contesting the charges. He violated these probation terms in September 1996 during the brawl at a Las Vegas hotel, in which, according to AllHipHop, he beat Orlando Anderson. A few hours later, Tupac was fatally shot in Knight’s car. Knight had already been released from the Mule Creek state prison in California on April 20, 2001, and transferred to the federal facility for the remainder of his sentence.
“Welcome Home Suge”
In front of the Death Row corporate headquarters, a billboard greeted him with the words “Welcome Home Suge”. He told the Los Angeles Times that he was “stress-free” and wanted to do “better things”. He intended to go into the studio that very evening. According to AllHipHop, Knight called allegations from Rolling Stone and the VH1 show “Behind the Music” that he was involved in the murder of Biggie lies.