Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:11 am
guilty this morning. Zach didn't.
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Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:13 am
I was about to post the same thing. I just left the courthouse and heard it as I was walking out the door.
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:21 am
Thats crazy...i thought he was gong to go down swinging! they must have really had him by the balls to get him to plead out! But now i suppose he wont do 75 behind bars... 
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:28 am
DANG.. I can't believe it.. This is unreal.. Any chance he was pleading out to save his Zach??
Scruggs Pleads Guilty
Posted: March 14, 2008 10:41 AM CDT
Updated: March 14, 2008 11:12 AM CDT
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - Powerful plaintiffs attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge in a judicial bribery case. The surprise plea came Friday during a hearing in Oxford on pretrial matters in advance of his scheduled March 31 trial.
Scruggs and co-defendant Sidney Backstrom both pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a judge. No plea has yet been entered by Scruggs' son, Zach.
The three were accused of conspiring to bribe a Lafayette County Circuit Court judge for a favorable ruling in a dispute over $26.5 million in legal fees from a mass settlement of Hurricane Katrina cases. The elder Scruggs, one of the best known trial lawyers in the country, was indicted along with his son and three associates in November. Judge Henry L. Lackey reported a bribe overture to the FBI and worked undercover. Two of the men who were indicted, attorney Timothy Balducci and former Mississippi State Auditor Steve Patterson, pleaded guilty and began working with the prosecution.
Scruggs helped negotiate the multibillion-dollar tobacco settlement in the 1990s, working with whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, a former tobacco company scientist. After Hurricane Katrina, a major new line of work opened up for Scruggs. The Pascagoula, Miss., native sued insurance companies on behalf of hundreds of homeowners whose claims were denied after the 2005 storm. Scruggs' brother-in-law, former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., was one of his clients.
Scruggs Pleads Guilty
Posted: March 14, 2008 10:41 AM CDT
Updated: March 14, 2008 11:12 AM CDT
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - Powerful plaintiffs attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge in a judicial bribery case. The surprise plea came Friday during a hearing in Oxford on pretrial matters in advance of his scheduled March 31 trial.
Scruggs and co-defendant Sidney Backstrom both pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a judge. No plea has yet been entered by Scruggs' son, Zach.
The three were accused of conspiring to bribe a Lafayette County Circuit Court judge for a favorable ruling in a dispute over $26.5 million in legal fees from a mass settlement of Hurricane Katrina cases. The elder Scruggs, one of the best known trial lawyers in the country, was indicted along with his son and three associates in November. Judge Henry L. Lackey reported a bribe overture to the FBI and worked undercover. Two of the men who were indicted, attorney Timothy Balducci and former Mississippi State Auditor Steve Patterson, pleaded guilty and began working with the prosecution.
Scruggs helped negotiate the multibillion-dollar tobacco settlement in the 1990s, working with whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand, a former tobacco company scientist. After Hurricane Katrina, a major new line of work opened up for Scruggs. The Pascagoula, Miss., native sued insurance companies on behalf of hundreds of homeowners whose claims were denied after the 2005 storm. Scruggs' brother-in-law, former Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., was one of his clients.
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:38 am
OXFORD – Attorneys Richard "Dickie" Scruggs and Sidney Backstrom pleaded guilty this morning to conspiring to bribe a circuit court judge.
A third defendant in the case, Scruggs' son, Zach, is still expected to go to trial, possibly in April.
Scruggs and Backstrom pleaded guilty to count one of the indictment, the conspiracy charge, and at sentencing the remaining counts are expected to be dismissed.
Scruggs is likely to get five years in prison, according to the government's recommendation.
Backstrom likely will get half of that, or two and a half years, and will cooperate with the government in the investigation of other possible bribery cases.
Scruggs' plea will have no bearing on any other bribery cases in which he may have been implicated.
The three men, accused with two others of trying to bribe circuit judge Henry Lackey, were scheduled to stand trial March 31.
The other two original defendants, Timothy Balducci and Steve Patterson, have already pleaded guilty in the case.
The Scruggs and Backstrom pleas came this morning in federal court before Senior Judge Neal Biggers Jr.
The actual count to which the two men pleaded guilty is:
"Count 1: From on or about March of 207 and continuing until on or about November 2007 in the Northern District of Mississippi and elsewhere the defendants Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, David Zachary Scruggs, Sidney A. Backstrom, Timothy Balducci, and Steven A. Patterson did knowingly and willfully conspire with each other and with others known and unknown to commit offenses against the United States as follows:
a) To corruptly give, offer, or agree to give anything of value to anyh person with the intent to influence or reward an agent of a state or local government in connection with any business, transaction or series of transactions of such government or agency involving anything of value of $5,000 or more when such state or local government or agency received in any one year period benefits in excess of $10,000 under a federal program in violation of Section 666(a)(2)(b) and Section 2 of Title 18 of the United States Code.
b. To devise and intend to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and to deprive the State of Mississippi of its intangible right to honest services and for the purpose of executing the scheme and artifice, to knowingly transmit and cause to be transmitted by means of wire, writings and sounds by communications in interstate commerce, in violation of Sections 1343, 1346 and 2 of Title 18, United States Code."
---From the Tupelo Daily Journal---
A third defendant in the case, Scruggs' son, Zach, is still expected to go to trial, possibly in April.
Scruggs and Backstrom pleaded guilty to count one of the indictment, the conspiracy charge, and at sentencing the remaining counts are expected to be dismissed.
Scruggs is likely to get five years in prison, according to the government's recommendation.
Backstrom likely will get half of that, or two and a half years, and will cooperate with the government in the investigation of other possible bribery cases.
Scruggs' plea will have no bearing on any other bribery cases in which he may have been implicated.
The three men, accused with two others of trying to bribe circuit judge Henry Lackey, were scheduled to stand trial March 31.
The other two original defendants, Timothy Balducci and Steve Patterson, have already pleaded guilty in the case.
The Scruggs and Backstrom pleas came this morning in federal court before Senior Judge Neal Biggers Jr.
The actual count to which the two men pleaded guilty is:
"Count 1: From on or about March of 207 and continuing until on or about November 2007 in the Northern District of Mississippi and elsewhere the defendants Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, David Zachary Scruggs, Sidney A. Backstrom, Timothy Balducci, and Steven A. Patterson did knowingly and willfully conspire with each other and with others known and unknown to commit offenses against the United States as follows:
a) To corruptly give, offer, or agree to give anything of value to anyh person with the intent to influence or reward an agent of a state or local government in connection with any business, transaction or series of transactions of such government or agency involving anything of value of $5,000 or more when such state or local government or agency received in any one year period benefits in excess of $10,000 under a federal program in violation of Section 666(a)(2)(b) and Section 2 of Title 18 of the United States Code.
b. To devise and intend to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and to deprive the State of Mississippi of its intangible right to honest services and for the purpose of executing the scheme and artifice, to knowingly transmit and cause to be transmitted by means of wire, writings and sounds by communications in interstate commerce, in violation of Sections 1343, 1346 and 2 of Title 18, United States Code."
---From the Tupelo Daily Journal---
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:08 am
can't wait for Hood to go down too..
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:54 am
Jelly wrote:can't wait for Hood to go down too..
ME TOO!
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:07 pm
crackhead wrote:Jelly wrote:can't wait for Hood to go down too..
ME TOO!
ME THREE
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:22 pm
Me 4...
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:49 pm
The question now is who is next now that Scruggs is "cooperating" with the feds. I think we should start a pool: will it be Hood, Lott, Musgrove, Mike More? Who knows!! But someone is next on the chopping block just a matter of who and when!
Heres a riddle for you...if a high dollar attorney gets reamed in prison and no gaurds are around to hear it...does he scream?
Heres a riddle for you...if a high dollar attorney gets reamed in prison and no gaurds are around to hear it...does he scream?
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:51 pm
MallardMauler wrote:The question now is who is next now that Scruggs is "cooperating" with the feds. I think we should start a pool: will it be Hood, Lott, Musgrove, Mike More? Who knows!! But someone is next on the chopping block just a matter of who and when!
Heres a riddle for you...if a high dollar attorney gets reamed in prison and no gaurds are around to hear it...does he scream?
Completely agree!!!!!!!!
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:08 pm
It will be interesting to see if they continue the charges against Zach.. I mean I wonder if Dickie agreed to plead quilty if they dropped the charges agains his son?? or maybe to keep Lott of the witness stand, or was it pure a simple to save himseld.. .. I can't imagine he did it to protect Hood.
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:14 pm
MallardMauler wrote:Thats crazy...i thought he was gong to go down swinging! they must have really had him by the balls to get him to plead out! But now i suppose he wont do 75 behind bars...
Some guy on SuperTalk said that they pulled over the guy who made the final payment and showed him the video, shortly after he made the final payment. Take it with a grain of salt.
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:32 pm
cwinkler wrote:It will be interesting to see if they continue the charges against Zach.. I mean I wonder if Dickie agreed to plead quilty if they dropped the charges agains his son?? or maybe to keep Lott of the witness stand, or was it pure a simple to save himseld.. .. I can't imagine he did it to protect Hood.
From the latest Clarion Ledger update it appears Zach walks but must relinquish his license to practice law. So sad, I cannot work and must be forced to spend my father's billion while he is away in jail.
Re: Scruggs pled
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 1:40 pm
hope they get everyone of them scumbums... 