LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) Two attorneys for Suge Knight have been indicted for alleged witness tampering.
Thaddeus Culpepper and Matthew Fletcher, who have represented the former Death Row Records mogul for his upcoming murder trial, were charged with conspiracy March 5, a Los Angeles County district attorney’s office spokesman told the Los Angeles Times. Another charge was filed: accessory after the fact to the 2015 murder that Knight is accused of committing, but it was not clear at press time which attorney was indicted, according to the Times.
The charges follow a recent grand jury indictment, according to prosecutors.
Culpepper and Fletcher were arrested in January on suspicion of being accessories to the murder but released within 24 hours. Culpepper currently reps Knight; Flecther is a previous attorney of record in the case.
The case stems from a car crash at Compton, Calif.’s Tam’s Burgers after a dispute on the set of the N.W.A biopic, when Knight rammed his truck into two men, killing 55-year-old Terry Carter. The pre-trial drama has included five different attorneys, legal drama, and accusations of misconduct, the Times said.
A 22-page motion was filed last fall accusing Knight, his fiancee and several attorneys of witness tampering. Knight’s calls from jail were tapped, with permission by a judge, and included Fletcher – the attorney of record at the time – apparently implying to potential witnesses that they would be compensated for guided testimony.
“And you all went over there and you saw these guns removed from these two people,” Fletcher reportedly says, according to the newspaper’s sourcing of the motion. “Yes, yes. Fine, dude, you’re done. Here’s your money.”
Knight’s fiancee also apparently said Fletcher put “bread” out to get witnesses to come forward.
Neither the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office nor the Sheriff’s Department commented to the Times on the decision to make the January arrests.
