ORLANDO, Fla. (WESH) — A well-known defense attorney has posted bond after being arrested Monday at the Osceola County Courthouse under charges that include solicitation to commit perjury.
Harold “Hal” Uhrig was one of the attorneys who briefly helped defend George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin case.
Uhrig is also charged with tampering with or harassing a witness victim or informant which is a capital life felony.
Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez said Uhrig was representing a man accused of raping a girl when she was 9 years old.
Uhrig is accused of holding a meeting with the rape victim who is a teenager now, her father and the man accused of rape and instructing them to do three things:
- Write a letter to the state’s attorney saying the rape did not happen
- Refuse to answer served subpoenas
- Lie under oath during deposition
The Sheriff believes Uhrig was trying to keep his client from going to jail.
“The victim came forward and reported that conduct to the state attorney who was investigating the case July of this year 2021,” Lopez said.
Osceola County deputies started investigating after the victim reported the claims in July.
“The victim’s father did a controlled phone call with the Attorney Mr. Uhrig [and] he said he couldn’t talk about this over the phone any specifics so he wanted to meet in person,” Lopez said.
Officials say the victim’s father was wearing a recording device when he met with Uhrig.
“During the meeting the attorney made him turn off his cell phone and told the father to read a script off of his computer screen,” Lopez said. “The script appears to be his defense for when he goes to court on these charges.”
Uhrig’s website shows he’s been practicing law for more than 40 years, and it’s why the Sheriff believes the accusations are even more troubling.
“If you’re an attorney you’ve been practicing law for a long time and there’s no way you’re going to jeopardize your career on something like this especially at that age it’s retirement time,” Lopez said. “So I think that this wasn’t his first rodeo unless someone else comes forward we won’t know that, but that’s what I suspect at this time.”
Uhrig is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday.
