LOS ANGELES _ An attorney who previously represented former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight during his ongoing murder case was arrested by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on Thursday, officials said.
Matthew Fletcher, 53, was arrested at the Long Beach courthouse around 2 p.m., according to Sgt. Robert Alexander of the department's Carson Station.
Alexander said Fletcher had been arrested on a warrant, but he did not know what charges the attorney was booked on. Fletcher is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and has a court appearance scheduled for Friday morning, Alexander said.
In August, Los Angeles County prosecutors accused Fletcher, Knight and others of engaging in witness tampering in a 22-page court filing related to the former rap impresario's pending murder case.
"They were going to assist the defendant in procuring witnesses for his defense, which included payments for fabricated testimony," prosecutors wrote.
Fletcher vehemently denied the accusation in an interview with the Los Angeles Times last year. He said prosecutors had taken his words out of context and were trying to discredit defense witnesses before they testified.
A Sheriff's Department spokeswoman was not able to immediately provide further details. Calls to Knight's current attorney were not immediately returned.
Knight, 52, is expected to stand trial this year on charges that he barreled his truck into Terry Carter and Cle "Bone" Sloan in the parking lot of a Compton burger stand in late January 2015, following a dispute on the set of a commercial for the movie "Straight Outta Compton." Carter, 55, died of his injuries.
Footage from a security camera shows Knight _ who has pleaded not guilty and says he acted in self-defense _ plowing his truck into the men. Knight, who fled the scene but later turned himself in, also is accused of robbery and threatening the film's director, F. Gary Gray, in separate cases.
Ruby Peralta, Fletcher's wife, said that she found out "a few hours ago" about her husband's arrest and that she spoke to him in custody.
She did not know if her husband was being represented by an attorney and was uncertain about the reasons for his arrest.
"I don't know anything right now," Peralta said.
