A lawyer who repped Suge Knight is pleading guilty to criminal charges stemming from accusations that he plotted to pay witnesses to lie while defending the music mogul from murder charges.
Under the terms of the deal, Matthew Fletcher, 57, pleaded no contest to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and one count of perjury. In return, he will avoid a prison sentence, though he will be barred for life from practicing law.
Prosecutors claimed that Fletcher schemed to pay off witnesses in the wake of a 2015 incident in which a truck driven by Knight rammed into two men outside a Compton restaurant following a dispute related to the film “Straight Outta Compton.” One victim later died, and the Death Row Records founder was eventually charged with murder.
According to a 2018 indictment, Fletcher plotted to pay a witness to testify that guns had been present at the scene of the ramming – an effort to corroborate Knight’s claim that he acted in self-defense. Prosecutors say Fletcher told Knight it would take “$20,000 to $25,000 to secure his freedom.” Fletcher was also accused of conspiring to pay the surviving victim of the attack.
Fletcher maintained his innocence, arguing that his statements had been taken out of context and that there was no evidence he actually tried to pay anyone.
Wednesday’s plea deal came after a months-long trial over a more extensive list charges, and was struck as jurors were midway through their deliberations. Had he been convicted on all of them, Fletcher could have faced several years in prison. Under the deal, he will merely face five years probation.
When reached by Billboard, Fletcher’s attorney Alexandra Kazarian said the plea deal was a last resort. She called the trial a “travesty of justice” and said the presiding judge had “telegraphed over and over since the start, that he was gunning to send him to prison for the maximum sentence.”
“The forces that be combined to target him and take him out of rotation,” said Kazarian, an attorney at Mark Geragos‘ law firm. “This was an orchestrated hit, and he definitely went down fighting. It’s not the result I was hoping for, but it was the smartest move he could’ve made.” A spokesman for the DA’s office did immediately not return a request for comment.
Knight pled no contest to voluntary manslaughter in 2018 and was sentenced to 28 years in prison. A second attorney for Knight, Thaddeus Culpepper, was also indicted on similar charges related to witness payments, but has yet to be tried. He is also facing separate federal charges on different crimes.
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