According to various reports online, former Death Row CEO Suge Knight & his lawyer, Matthew Fletcher, reportedly talked about paying witnesses thousands of dollars to lie in his upcoming murder case, prosecutors say. The LA county district attorney’s office came up with these allegations after catching a series of phone calls between Suge & his lawyer from 2015.
According to the transcripts, Suge, his attorney Matthew Fletcher, fiancée Toi-Lin Kelly and business partner Mark Blankenship reportedly "had an understanding that they were going to assist the defendant in procuring witnesses for his defense, which included payments for fabricated testimony.”
The people on the calls allegedly discussed payments as much as $25,000 to have the witnesses go along with Knight’s arguent that he was reacting in self-defense while the victims at the burger stand were armed. Fletcher ultimately denied bribing anyone to The New York Daily News though.
"I've never paid anyone, period, end of story," Fletcher told the Daily News. "I don't believe Suge Knight has the money to pay anyone.”
However, Fletcher might be contradicting himself as he was allegedly caught red-handed on the phone, saying he'd give money to any of the bikers who were at the scene.
"I'll pay anything ... if we can get the two or three versions from the bikers on tape and we can get ... we're done," Fletcher says. "It's going home time. Right? That's a fair ... investment, you know, 20, 25 thousand dollars.”
The Sheriff's Department was warned that Knight and others were discussing witness tampering, and requested a warrant to listen in on the calls, which a judge ultimately ruled in their favor.
This reports come a week after Sure pleaded not guilty to charges that he had threatened to kill or seriously injure F. Gary Gray. We’ll continue to keep you posted.