Marion 'Suge' Knight pleads not guilty to death threat charge

The music producer was accused of threatening director F. Gary Gray in 2014.

ByABC News
August 3, 2017, 7:06 PM
Marion "Suge" Knight, center, arrives in court for a hearing about evidence in his murder case in Los Angeles, March 9, 2015.
Marion "Suge" Knight, center, arrives in court for a hearing about evidence in his murder case in Los Angeles, March 9, 2015.
Kevork Djansezian/AP Photo

— -- Death Row Records founder "Suge" Knight pleaded not guilty Thursday to a charge of making a criminal threat to "Straight Outta Compton" director F. Gary Gray three years ago, ABC News has confirmed.

Knight, whose legal name is Marion Hugh Knight, was accused of the felony charge by a grand jury in Los Angeles County Superior Court in February, according to the indictment obtained by ABC News.

The indictment alleged that Gray "was reasonably in sustained fear of his safety and the safety of his immediate family," as a result of Knight's threat "to commit a crime which would result in death and great bodily injury."

Knight, who was portrayed in Gray's 2015 hit film, is due back in court Aug. 10.

The music producer, 52, remains in prison while awaiting trial on murder charges stemming from a fatal car accident in January, 2015. The producer has been accused of running over two men in a Compton, California, parking lot, killing one. He has pleaded not guilty.

The trial on those charges is set to begin in January 2018. Knight, who's had several brushes with the law over the years, has been behind bars for more than two years.