AceShowbiz -

A Los Angeles judge has denied Suge Knight's request to drop charges in murder case stemming from January fatal hit-and-run incident. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Marcus ruled on Tuesday, July 7 that Suge should stand trial on murder charges although one of his victims refused to identify him in court.

Suge's attorney Thomas Meserau said the judge should reject Cle "Bone" Sloan's testimony against his client. Back in January, Cle told detectives that it was Suge who ran over him and Terry Carter, but in April he refused to say that the music mogul ran him over. Stephen said he couldn't evaluate the credibility of witnesses at a preliminary hearing, noting, "He doesn't say that it's not him."

Stephen called Suge and Cle's contentious history a "soap opera," before adding, "The only person who had a motive was Suge Knight."

Thomas told the court that there were "some very troubling issues" about Suge's murder case. He called it an "outrage" that a person would be charged with homicide "in a case like this." However, Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Barnes argued that there was "sufficient" evidence against Suge to move forward with the case. Stephen agreed with Cynthia after reviewing transcripts from a prior hearing.

After the hearing, Thomas told reporters that he would seek to have Suge's 10 million bail reduced.

On the same day, a judge set a preliminary hearing for Suge's unrelated robbery case for September 17 to determine if there is enough evidence to require him and Katt Williams to stand trial.