Jackson Free Press

Patsy Brumsfield is reporting on the deal-or-no-deal confusion at The Daily Journal. (Hat tip to Folo.):

Now, the talk - by sources close to the case - centers on former Hinds District Attorney Ed Peters, DeLaughter's former boss, who reportedly has crucial information for prosecutors, if he decides to cooperate.

In a January guilty plea, former Booneville attorney Joey Langston admitted under oath that Peters was a key actor in carrying information back and forth between Scruggs and DeLaughter in Scruggs' alleged efforts to make sure the judge ruled in his favor in the lawsuit Wilson v. Scruggs. Roberts Wilson, then a Jackson attorney, sued Scruggs for a larger share of legal fees he said he was owed from nationwide asbestos cases.

DeLaughter insists he has done nothing wrong, but he was suspended indefinitely from the bench while the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance investigates allegations of improper conduct related to his rulings.

Plea deal a holdup?
Insiders say the current federal investigators may be trying to work out a plea deal acceptable to Peters and to the U.S. Department of Justice's Public Integrity Division, which also has come into the case.

Sources say the U.S. Attorney's Office may have offered Peters a deal, which the Department of Justice later disapproved when it received more allegations of wrongdoing between Peters and DeLaughter.

My guess is that Ed Peters has been privy to all sorts of tidbits the feds could be interested in. Just a guess. But let's hope that, if he did offer a million-dollar bribe, that he doesn't walk free. Not sure that would qualify as justice.

Previous Commentsshow

My Mom might end up right yet; She's never like the guy and claimed they "have to screw him in the ground to bury him." Sad that so many normal citizens have been blinded to the reality of their government.

Ironghost

Aug 21 2008

I hope it's a deal that gives him a new home for years. These people would be thrown under the jail too just as a crack cocaine seller is if the criminal justice system was fair to everyone. The slaps on the wrist with 1-5 years does nothing to deter these types of criminals.

Walt

Aug 25 2008