Matthew Fletcher, a former lawyer of Suge Knight, has pleaded guilty to bribing witnesses amid the music executive’s murder trial.
Fletcher represented Knight as he underwent trial in connection to the 2015 fatal hit-and-run accident that killed Terry Carter and injured filmmaker Cle Sloan. The ex-attorney faced conspiracy and perjury charges after allegations he plotted to pay witnesses to lie on the stand. Prosecutors said the former lawyer specifically wanted witnesses to testify that there were guns at the scene of the car wreck and noted their belief that he was also planning to give Sloan some money. After listening in on phone calls between Fletcher and Knight, they claimed he told the former Death Row CEO that he’d only need “$20,000 to $25,000 to secure his freedom.”
Fletcher denied the allegations and maintained his innocence throughout his respective trial, but on Wednesday (Feb. 16), as jurors were amid deliberations, he took a plea deal. Per the terms, he pleaded no contest to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and one count of perjury. In exchange for no jail time, the ex-attorney now faces five years of probation and will no longer be able to practice law.
In a statement to Billboard, Fletcher’s attorney Alexandra Kazarian said the presiding judge “was gunning to send [her client] to prison for the maximum sentence,” and the plea deal was the last resort. “The forces that be combined to target him and take him out of rotation,” she said. “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.”
As for Knight, who rammed the men after an alleged dispute on the set of Straight Outta Compton, he pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in connection to Carter’s death and was sentenced to 28 years in prison.