Suge Knight. Photo by TheMcShark/CC-BY-SA-3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Two attorneys who previously represented former rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight during his murder case and were arrested Thursday on suspicion of acting as “accessories after the fact” were both released from jail without bond Friday.
Matthew Fletcher, 53, was freed at 5:14 p.m. and 44-year-old Thaddeus Culpepper at 6:23 p.m., according to the sheriff’s department and Los Angeles County jail records
Fletcher and Culpepper were initially each being held in lieu of $1 million bail, according to online sheriff’s inmate records.
Nicole Nishida, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s department sent a response to City News Service regarding the release of the two attorneys.
“The case is very complex in nature, requiring further review by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office,” sheriff’s Public Information Officer Nicole Nishida told City News Service.
“Mr. Culpepper and Mr. Fletcher were released from custody today, pending an evaluation into the complexities. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department appreciates the detailed review being conducted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney.”
Bryan Schroeder, Fletcher’s attorney, said he was “surprised and very happy when they released my client” from custody.
“It’s a felony and they believed they had probable cause so they made the arrests,” Schroeder said. “But they weren’t ready to proceed so they released them from jail. But they still have three years from the date of the alleged violation to refile the charges.”
Schroeder said he was shocked that the sheriff’s department would arrest two attorneys at courthouses on charges that they hadn’t really sorted out.
“It’s shocking that they would proceed when they hadn’t sorted out the case they were pursuing,” Schroeder said. “I don’t understand what they were thinking. I’m just happy my client is at home.”
The arrest warrants were issued for Fletcher and Culpepper Thursday and were served by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detectives, said Deputy Trina Schrader of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
Those warrants alleged the two men were accessories to a crime, but details were not immediately available and it wasn’t immediately clear if the charges were connected to Knight. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.
Los Angeles County prosecutors alleged in August that Fletcher, Culpepper, Knight and others tried to pay off potential witnesses in Knight’s murder case, according to court documents. Both attorneys denied any wrongdoing.
Knight, 52, is charged with murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run for using a pickup truck to allegedly run down Carter and Cle “Bone” Sloan in the parking lot of Tam’s Burgers in the 1200 block of West Rosecrans Avenue on Jan. 29, 2015. Carter died and Sloan survived his injuries.
Knight also is accused of robbery and threatening “Straight Outta Compton” director F. Gary Gray in a separate case.
The August filing by the District Attorney’s Office asked the court to conduct an inquiry into whether Fletcher had a conflict of interest in representing Knight against the threat charges involving Gray.
— City News Service
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