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Attorney Thaddeus Culpepper, seen here during a January hearing in Marion "Suge" Knight's pending murder trial, was indicted Monday on criminal charges related to witness tampering. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Two attorneys who have represented Marion "Suge" Knight at various stages of his upcoming murder trial are facing criminal conspiracy charges following accusations of witness tampering that have roiled the case, according to indictments unsealed Monday.
Thaddeus Culpepper and Matthew Fletcher appeared in a downtown courtroom Monday morning where they were charged with conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit subornation of perjury, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and serving as accessories after the fact to the 2015 murder Knight is accused of, according to court documents.
Culpepper was charged with two additional conspiracy counts, and Fletcher faces an additional charge of perjury, prosecutors said.
A grand jury returned the indictment against both men on Jan. 24, one day before they were arrested by Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives. The two men were released the next day, and law enforcement officials have yet to explain why the men were indicted, arrested and then freed.
In a court filing made public last year, prosecutors accused Culpepper of agreeing to pay a man for "testimony that he was present at the time of the crime and [witnessed] evidence favorable to the defense." Unbeknownst to Culpepper, the man was actually an informant for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Fletcher allegedly told Knight it might cost up to $25,000 to win his freedom, and suggested paying off one of the surviving victims in the case, prosecutors said in a news release Monday.
Culpepper is representing Knight in the pending murder case and an unrelated robbery charge. Fletcher was previously an attorney of record in the murder case.
Prosecutors sought to hold both men in lieu of $500,000 bail, but Judge Scott Gordon released them on their own recognizance. An arraignment was scheduled for March 16. Neither man entered a plea, but both have previously denied wrongdoing in interviews with The Times.
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Knight has remained jailed in downtown Los Angeles since January 2015, when he rammed his truck into two men at a famous Compton burger stand after a dispute on the set of the N.W.A biopic "Straight Outta Compton." Terry Carter, 55, died of his injuries. Another man, 52-year-old Cle "Bone" Sloan, survived.
Knight has pleaded not guilty and claimed self-defense. His attorneys have repeatedly argued that either the victims or someone else at Tam's Burgers, where the crash took place, had a gun. Prosecutors say the evidence does not support that claim and a gun was never recovered.
His murder trial is scheduled to begin next month, and the years leading up to it have been marked by legal drama and accusations of misconduct. Knight has cycled through at least five attorneys in connection with the murder case, a 2014 robbery case that also involved comedian Micah "Katt" Williams and accusations that he threatened to harm the director of "Straight Outta Compton."
In August, prosecutors filed a 22-page motion accusing Knight, his fiance, and several attorneys of discussing potential witness tampering during jailhouse phone calls. A judge had previously signed an order that allowed investigators to listen to the calls, which normally would have been protected by attorney-client privilege, after the Sheriff's Department developed information that Knight might be involved in witness tampering.
Speaking outside the courtroom Monday, Culpepper contended that the orders allowing prosecutors and investigators to listen to Knight's jailhouse conversations with attorneys were invalid.
"We are excited to have the opportunity to prove the district attorney's office has committed fraud upon the court and the grand jury from June 27, 2016, to the present date," Culpepper said, referring to the date prosecutors first obtained a court order to listen to Knight's phone calls.
Fletcher declined to comment Monday, referring questions to his attorney, Mark Geragos. Geragos could not be immediately reached for comment. A call to Knight's attorney on the murder case seeking comment was not immediately returned.
According to transcripts of the recorded calls, which took place when Fletcher was still the attorney of record in the murder case, the attorney made references to paying witnesses to say they saw firearms at the scene.
"And you all went over there and you saw these guns removed from these two people," Fletcher said, according to the motion. "Yes, yes. Fine, dude, you're done. Here's your money."
According to the indictment, during a March 2015 conversation, Fletcher also told Knight about a specific witness who would be paid to say there were firearms at the murder scene.
Attorney Matthew Fletcher, who previously represented Knight in the murder case, has also been accused of misconduct by prosecutors in recent months. (Associated Press)
Knight's fiancee, Toi-Lin Kelly, also said Fletcher had put "bread" out to get witnesses to come forward, presumably referring to cash, according to the motion. Kelly was sentenced to three years in jail for a probation violation earlier this year, after she had been accused of violating a court order by leaking video of the car crash to celebrity website TMZ.
The motion filed last year also detailed how a confidential informant working for the Sheriff's Department approached Knight on a prison transport bus in 2016.
"I'm on my way home, blood.… Anything you need," the informant said to Knight, according to the transcript.
Knight instructed the man to get in touch with one of his attorneys. The next day, the informant visited Fletcher's offices in Long Beach, and the two later spoke by phone. At one point, Fletcher suggested gaining helpful testimony might cost money, according to the filing.
"These … got a price; let's get that ... price paid," Fletcher said, according to the transcript. "I told Suge, 'You can always make some more money, you can't make any more freedom though.' "
The informant contacted Fletcher a week later, according to the motion, which did not include a transcript of their phone call. Culpepper allegedly offered the man money in exchange for his testimony, prosecutors alleged last year. According to the indictment, the informant told Culpepper he was not present at the crime scene, but Culpepper agreed to draft a declaration for him to sign. He also asked the informant to watch surveillance video of the murder, according to the indictment.
"I'll do whatever … but you know what, I'm gonna need a few dollars … maybe later down the line," the informant told Culpepper, according to the indictment.
"Of course, of course," Culpepper responded.
Culpepper has said any comments he made about paying potential witnesses had to do with expert testimony fees or covering expenses. He has also accused prosecutors of throwing dirt at Knight's attorneys to discourage people from speaking out on Knight's behalf.
"They are putting in the public … the idea that there is witness tampering," he told The Times earlier this year. "But it's really witness intimidation."
james.queally@latimes.com
Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.
UPDATES:
1:00 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information from prosecutors, comments from Culpepper and details contained in the unsealed indictment.
This article was first published at 11 a.m.
Attorneys for Suge Knight indicted on charges tied to alleged witness tampering
