'Suge' Knight's Former Attorneys Released From Jail

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA/AP) – Authorities Friday night released two Los Angeles attorneys who represented former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight a day after they were arrested.

Both men were arrested Thursday on warrants alleging they were accessories after the fact to a felony. However, authorities did not disclose what the felony was or what they are believed to have done.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said 53-year-old Matthew Fletcher and 44-year-old Thaddeus Culpepper were let out of jail because their "complex" case requires further review by prosecutors before they can be charged.

Fletcher and Culpepper were initially each being held in lieu of $1 million bail. They were both released from jail without bond.

The attorneys are among several who have represented Knight, the Death Row Records co-founder who was charged with murder and attempted murder in 2015. Knight has pleaded not guilty.

Bryan Schroeder, Fletcher's attorney, said he was "surprised and very happy when they released my client" from custody. 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.

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.

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.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)