LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight, who is charged with murder in a hit-and-run death, was hospitalized on Thursday before his scheduled Los Angeles court appearance in a separate camera theft case, a judge said.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mark Zuckman said in court that Knight, the 49-year-old co-founder of influential hip-hop label Death Row Records, "suffered some medical condition and was taken via ambulance to an undisclosed hospital."
Knight and comedian Katt Williams, 43, were scheduled to appear in court in Los Angeles. Both men have pleaded not guilty to robbery charges in the Sept. 5 theft of a camera in Beverly Hills. Knight had been expected to enter a plea to a new charge of terroristic threatening.
Knight was picked up from the courthouse, Zuckman said, but he did not make an appearance in court.
Williams' court appearance was rescheduled to Thursday afternoon, the judge said.
If Knight is convicted in the camera theft case, he faces a possible sentence of 25 years to life under California's three-strikes law, which gives stiffer sentences to those previously convicted of serious felonies, prosecutor Keri Modder said last week.
Knight has convictions from 1997 on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, according to court documents filed by the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office.
In a separate case, Knight drew national attention when he was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run in a Jan. 29 altercation outside a burger shop in Compton, a mostly poor suburb of Los Angeles. He has been jailed without bail in that case.
(Reporting by Michael Fleeman, Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Doina Chiaacu)