Officials say former rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight’s fiancee and business partner were each charged with violating a court order by selling sealed video evidence related to Knight’s murder trial to TMZ, the Los Angeles Times reported.
A grand jury in July indicted Toilin Kelly, 36, and Mark Blankenship, 57, on one felony count each of conspiracy to violate a court order, conspiracy to obstruct justice and conspiracy to commit grand theft, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The indictment was unsealed Wednesday.
Kelly has pleaded not guilty, and Blankenship has not yet been arraigned.
Knight is accused of barreling his red truck into two men in the parking lot of a Compton burger stand in late January 2015, killing 55-year-old Terry Carter.
Footage from a security camera shows Knight — who has pleaded not guilty and says he acted in self-defense — plowing his truck into the men. Knight fled the scene but later turned himself in.
Two weeks after the incident, prosecutors said, Kelly and Blankenship arranged the sale of a video of the fatal hit-and-run to TMZ for $55,000. TMZ posted the video on its site days later.
Sheriff’s detectives got a warrant to search Kelly’s cellphone, and prosecutors say they found messages between her and a TMZ correspondent in March 2015 negotiating a price for the video.
The filing by prosecutors said Kelly and Knight communicated in code about a plan to sell the video for as much as $150,000. In the end, the TMZ correspondent and Kelly agreed to “55.”
Prosecutors said the pair spent nearly a month brokering the sale with the celebrity news website, despite being aware the video was under a protective order.
If convicted, Kelly and Blankenship each face a maximum of three years in state prison.
WN.com, Jim Berrie
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