Former attorney for George Zimmerman arrested over alleged witness tampering

The defense attorney who represented George Zimmerman, who was acquitted in the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, was accused this week of witness tampering in a juvenile rape case.

Osceola County Sheriff Marcos López in a news conference said Hal Uhrig was arrested Monday and faces charges including solicitation to commit perjury and witness tampering, according to ABC News.

Uhrig was representing a man accused of raping a 9-year-old and allegedly coordinated a meeting between his client and the victim and her father.

“The point of the meeting was to keep the rapist from going to jail,” López told ABC News. “The attorney instructed the victim and her father that they should do three things. Write a declination, basically a letter, to the state attorney saying the rape didn’t happen; avoid being served with a subpoena so you don’t have to go to court to testify; (and) lie during your deposition and say the rape didn’t happen.”

The victim’s family provided the state attorney’s office with the information in July of this year, which prompted the sheriff’s sex crimes unit to launch an investigation, ABC News reported. The girl involved in the case is now a teenager.

Her father reportedly met with Uhrig a second time and recorded the meeting. Uhrig at the time allegedly had the man read a script that appeared to be his client’s defense.

Uhrig denied the allegations, reportedly telling a local Florida Fox News station that he is “not guilty of this.”

“We’re just going to go back to the boards like we always do. Sort out what happened,” he said.

Uhrig made bail on Monday and is set to appear in court on Tuesday, ABC News reported.