Jackson Free Press

The Sun-Herald is reporting that attorney Dickie Scruggs has pled guilty:

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.

Previous Commentsshow

WAPT said that Zach was trying to get a separate trial. Do you think he'll go ahead a plead guilty, or do you think he'll take his chances in court?

LatashaWillis

Mar 14 2008

Does anyone else think it's funny, not in a ha-ha way, that upon hearing about the Scruggs verdict, The Clarion-Ledger pulled the following old story about Jim Hood to the top right of their site? Do they know something we don't, or are they feeding the sharks? If they know something, they should cough it up.

DonnaLadd

Mar 14 2008

Chuckle.

LatashaWillis

Mar 14 2008

Of course, it could be because they don't have many stories that get more than 100 comments, so they want to show it off. ;-)

DonnaLadd

Mar 14 2008

If they are trying to have a specific part of their front page dedicated to the case with archives to complement today's story, they have failed. It is misleading. Appears to be yet another victim of their redesign.

Droite

Mar 14 2008

I heard Dickie was either to recieve or did receive 5 years for this. If so, I think it is a slap on the wrist. Makes me sick. Probably has tons of money stashed away here and there.

JMK

Mar 15 2008

I'm glad to see Scruggs did the right thing. Now, if we can just get Ed Peters, Judge B. Delaughter to just tell the truth and accept their punishment. Then we can start the rehab to our image.

Roc

Mar 15 2008

Scruggs got five years and a $250,000.00 fine (as reported by the CL). As I popped in a DVD of "No Country For Old Men" last night, The Man was sharp enough to notice the FBI warning stating the penalty for "unlawful distribution" of this movie....five years and a $250,000.00 fine. I'm one burned CD away from Scrugg's penalty. This struck me as highly ironic.

Lori G

Mar 16 2008

Wow, that's deep, Lori. There's got to be an editorial note coming for that, right? ;-)

LatashaWillis

Mar 16 2008

If he pled guilty to just bribery and all the other charges were dropped and IF I looked it up right and understood it right in the U.S. Code, 5 yrs and the fine are the max. sentence he could have gotten.

BubbaT

Mar 16 2008

You are right, Bubba.

GenShermansGhost

Mar 16 2008

It’ll take a lot to convince me that the jubilation one hears from many quarters about the Scruggs case isn’t just the rejoicing of the envious, or the relief of the defenders of the corporate status quo. For those who really believe in the law, and the importance of lawyers’ fidelity to seeking justice instead of victory, these have been sad, trying times. It's a time for introspection and concern, not happiness. Personally, I’d love to make it a crime for a lawyer to talk to a judge (or vice versa) about a case without one’s opponent present, whether or not money changes hands. Not holding my breath for that to happen, though. The GOB network is just too strong for that. I'd also love to see the same folks who jumped on the anti-Scruggs bandwagon get equally upset about the expert witnesses who prostituted themselves to get Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks sent to death row for crimes they didn't commit. Why isn't that a crime? Maybe because the victims are African-Americans instead of other rich lawyers and insurance companies?

GenShermansGhost

Mar 16 2008

WLBT said Zach Scruggs pled guilty today to a charge lesser than his father. No link yet.

LatashaWillis

Mar 21 2008