folo

9/21 meeting:

Question from the prosecutor: When Judge Lackey mentioned $40K to Balducci and Balducci said yes, this was not a problem, did something lead you to believe this would not be a problem? Yes, because Balducci had been privy to another case where Scruggs had bribed another judge, so Balducci knew they’d do that.

The moment Balducci left the chambers, he called Backstrom.

Later, he talked to Scruggs and Patterson in Scruggs’s office. Scruggs said he knew we had talked to P.L. Blake and "it would be covered. "

When he called Backstrom, he told Backstrom that he had just left meeting the judge, that the judge wanted $40K, and asked Backstrom if that is what they wanted done and do they want that done. Backstrom said he’d get back to Balducci.

[Editorial note: I wonder about the way Balducci is telling the story. This did not occur to me while I was listening in the courtroom, but I remember how Balducci and Patterson always talked in code: "Bushels of sweet potatoes " "bought a horse. " Balducci describes these conversations, which were not transcribed, in very direct terms. Was he being this unguarded?]

Keker asked for recross on the new matter that came up on redirect. The judge said he normally doesn’t allow recross, and that if Keker had objected to the other bribe, he’d have kept it out.

Balducci says that the other bribery case was the Wilson case before Judge DeLaughter. "DeLaughter was bribed by Scruggs.” He used the influence of Trent Lott, Scruggs’s brother-in-law to put DeLaughter’s name in consideration for a federal judgeship. "

Lott called DeLaughter at Scruggs’s request and told him his name was on a list for a federal judgeship.

Balducci knows this is so because he was in conversations with Joey Langston and Scruggs when they said the call would be made and in conversations when they said the call had been made. This was a month or two in advance of trial. Lott made the call in the first quarter of ‘06. DeLaughter was to give a favorable outcome to the case. Balducci knows this because he was in meetings with Langston and Scruggs and heard them talk about it. Balducci was also involved in meetings with Ed Peters where they talked about what to do in the case, previewed orders coming from the judge. This was to implement a favorable outcome.

There were three judgeships pending during the trial, and the last was filled just a few weeks after the trial.

The Wilson case ended in settlement. $3.9 million was paid to Wilson.

In the conversation involving Dick Scruggs and Steve Patterson, on October 16^th, they were meeting with Scruggs about another matter in his office, and Scruggs assumed it was about the calls to P.L. Blake and said "I know you talked to P.L. I know you need 40. It’s covered.”

This finishes Balducci’s testimony.