Zach asked at the end to make a statement. He talked about his love of the legal profession. He said:
No one is more sorry than I under the circumstances. I had no knowledge that Tim Balducci bribed Judge Lackey to obtain the order. I would have reported that if I had known. I did know about Balducci’s relationship with Judge Lackey and the improper contacts. That did deprive the state of honest services. I should have reported that to my lawyer so that it could have been communicated to the plaintiffs’ lawyers but did not. I here accept full responsibility. The legal profession has high standards, not just a duty to not do ex parte contact but to prevent others from doing ex parte contact. I hope that the Mississippi bar will gain from my mistake.
Judge Biggers responded: “The legal profession you say you love so much, you will not be a part of the rest of your life.”
S0unds as if he stumbled into a conversation and didn’t report it… waaaaay off from his actual involvement, I’d say
MT – I cant get this version to balance with the wire transcripts, etc. either.
Hope Judge Biggers can’t either
I hope that the Mississippi bar will gain from my mistake.
Talk about your dropping-a-hint. But considering the source, it still sounds a little squirrelly.
NMC, how did he sound and look this morning? What was the “temperature” of the room — and Judge Biggers?
What a phony! If he is so stupid that he sat in on the conversations planning the bribe but did not know what was going on, then how did he get through elementary school, much less college and law school. I believe Judge Biggers is intelligent enough to see through this pandering testimony, and I loved Judge Bigger’s response to Zach.
I sure hate to see another law firm’s worth of staff jobs wiped out.
Once again: Best of luck to all you bystanders caught up in this. May it lead you to something surprisingly better.
It’s not like Zack will ever have to worry about making a living so losing his law license is not a great penalty. Now Zack and Dick can kick back and enjoy the rest of their lives with all the dishonestly obtained millions they stole. Dick will only have to serve a year and a half in prison most likely and Zack will most likely get probation. How sweet it is. I would say the two Scrugg’s in effect got off scott free. At least the others who have plead guilty in this crime have shown some remorse and took their punishment like men.
His comments makes me want to puke. Aggorance. Why did he waste a week to do this?
Should get the book thrown at him.
If it was not Good Friday– I would say “Crucify Him!” OOOOOOooooo that is bad
I hope that the Mississippi bar will gain from my mistake.
I’m glad Zack suddenly cares about the state of the Mississippi Bar. When Zack is disbarred, yes, it will gain.
Oftentimes old trade specific terms become archaic, like “ear-wigging” since Judges don’t actually wear wigs anymore. Should we update the legal terminology to include “scruggsing” judges now? And “DeLaughtering” a case. Let’s just throw in “Petering” an indictment or “Hooding” an investigation.
With all the talk about disbarment in the Scrugg’s case, does anyone know why Paul Minor’s license was only suspended after he was sentenced on judicial bribery charges?
Rossmiller has some additional “inside the courtroom” commentary
Are there going to be any attorney with license left in the state? Maybe there will be in ads shortly stating “licensed to do business in Mississippi”
Combine shelby’s 7 and razor’s 10, and we get some foreshadowing of the next act.
No telling how many acts in this play, shelby, so also no telling yet where the Scruggses (and their money) end up.
redneckerbubba 13 // Remember, this is the minority of Miss. lawyers.
Someone commented that they thought Dickie Scruggs would spend a year and a half in jail and Zach get probation.
I’m willing to bet to the contrary. I’m guessing 5 years for Dickie and 3 for Zach.
lotus//at # 14 “Scruggs’ moving to Islands with long time friends Moore and Langston” You just wait and see.
NMC 16 // Will Zack get more time than Backstrom?
NMC… I agree that they will both serve time because I believe that Biggers is disgusted by the whole thing and wants each participant to have to pay—and money is not what they value most at this point.
Good point, DN– Zach’s plea is less, his relative involvement is less than Sid’s, apparently (the proof is certainly less) so the judge may well back Zach down to just below, although the judge may not feel he’s getting much of an acceptance of responsibility from Zach and he sure as heck got one from Sid.
never mind
At least the others who have plead guilty in this crime have shown some remorse and took their punishment like men.
Scruggs are half a man men.
Thanks for your work, NMC. It is much appreciated.
Sailor// Believe your uneducated reveiw is right on point, Poor Sid did not have the money or connections to bring The Don’s lawyer on to bargain such a plea. Money will talk every time, when Scruggs’ and Langston have a ring of AURA around them as if they are Mississippis’ Nobility.
Out of Wind, my understanding is that Minor’s licensed was suspended (instead of him being disbarred) because he was appealing his conviction. Once the appeal is over and assuming he loses, he will be disbarred, I think.
Happy to see ” Spawn” admitting he didn’t live up to the high ethical standards of his father.
Complete justice is but a speck on the horizon in this mess! Lets hope the govt. has the endurance to complete the job!
Looks as if ye olde server-farm weathered this plea in fines’ style. I wonder whether it’s being a three-day weekend (at least for some) helped.
Anyhow, WHEW.
I have suffered from severe cynicism for years watching these type of cases and always wondered what REALLY went on behind closed doors when it appears that there are deals that only GOBs get…NOW I know and it disgusts me beyond belief. A good ole out back of the court room ass whipping would at least make the “people” think that “something” was done for punishment. I’m feeling sort of short changed by the whole process. Again.
And those self-serving statements of “apology” from all except Sid’s smell more of “I’m sorry I got caught” than true remore for the behavior(s).
I guess the morals, ethics and values of times gone past are just that…gone past never to return.
Lotus 1:30 – Don’t whammy ye-olde server farm (I have visions of routers and servers glowing red at the moment)…
“No one is more sorry than I under the circumstances.”
BTW, what in the heck is that supposed to mean? Under the circumstances? The circumstances that you were charged with multiple felonies? This ain’t the guy I knew in law school.
This also puts me in mind of something my dad used to say if you did something particularly bad and said you were sorry. He’d reply that he knew you were sorry (as in, abject, contemptible, paltry, worthless, shabby).
And, re tapping, thanks for the explanation — I was just curious – so much internet lingo I don’t get — just wanted to make sure that wasn’t some of it
I think it is probable that Zach’s comments to Judge Biggers just earned him a prison sentence.
I think you’re right, especially the bit at the end where he said “may God save this Court and our honorable profession.” Just about the whole thing was inappropriate, except for a few sentences.
Anita Lee’s story contains more of the actual comments, (http://tinyurl.com/379jnz )by Zach Scruggs. "And I failed to do so in this particular case. I hope that the profession and the Mississippi Bar will learn from and benefit from my failure, and that it will-my actions here today will improve the Mississippi Bar Association for the better. And may God save this Court and our honorable profession. "
Give me a break or some Valium if I have to keep reading such asinine statements coming out of their mouths. Junior acts like he is falling on his sword as some sort of hero for the Bar: Brutus or Mark Anthony. Gawd, can these guys google up some "narcissism " for reading in prison. Narcissus is more the type of character they are playing. Talk about lack of remorse….
“Junior acts like he is falling on his sword as some sort of hero for the Bar: Brutus or Mark Anthony.”
No kidding. What a joke.
I agree with ventoux 32 that Zach’s performance this morning probably has convinced Biggers to sentence him to the maximum three years. I also agree with rogerwilco 33. The statement was literally shameless and an insult to the court.
Did he REALLY say: “And may God save this Court and our honorable profession.” Can NMC confirm???
DN — It’s in the transcript (over at Sun Herald — may be up at Rossmiller’s site).
I thought the same thing.
I saw it and vomited on my keyboard.
DeltaNative. Page 16 of the transcripts.
http://tinyurl.com/yw3qyg
Gawd, the biggest bunch of bullshit I’ve heard in a long time. He had no knowledge his father, Sid, and Balducci were bribing Lackey?
You would have thought having spent hundreds of thousands of $ (if not millions) for mutiple defense lawyers they could have written a statement which might have shown some genuine remorse. Zack’s self serving statement that he would have reported a bribe if he had known one was going on no doubt would not have been believed by even his mama.
I cannot believe his lawyers let him say all this garbage. CHEEEEEEEEZY!!!
Good grief! I got off work early today, but almost as soon as I got home the doorbell rang, and I’ve just had a chance to get back here and try to catch up. Zach’s “may God save this honorable Court and our profession” has got to be the most asinine statement I’ve ever seen. Did he just make that up after hearing the bailiff or courtroom deputy say “May God save the United States and this honorable Court”?
I wonder what happened to that sweet little kid I used to know a long, long time ago. I guess he grew up to be a lot like Daddy.
I’ll tell you what’s weird here. I can’t recall a case where the first cooperators to plead guilty and cooperate ended up getting more time than the people who fought it out to the end.
If it’s not because of more indictments to come, I’m really going to be wondering what happened.
Jane 46 – I vote they should name it after Lackey
The Judge Lackey Institute for Honesty and Ethics in Law.
fishwater: agreed. i bet the laweyrs were squirming. neither langston, patterson nor big scruggs apologized. little scruggs tried to because he heard about sid doing it; but it just aint in him.
Jane 48, that’s it. (Or would be if this weren’t Khayat and Davis’s
Ole MissInstitute of Good-Ol’-Boys-Will-Be-Boys-Oh-Well.)I actually have considered asking some of the lawyers who are angry at Den Davis if they would consider setting up a scholarship to honor Judge Lackey.
NMC, I hope you’ll accept small donations because I sure want to contribute.
Or since it’s the Music Building, maybe after Balducci (since he sang)
NMC, I think we (and I mean me and my spouse) would contribute to a scholarship honoring Judge Lackey.
NMC: why to Ole Miss for God’s sake. why not to another school that doesn’t breed GOBs. why give it to an institution that is run by Khayat or to a school where Davis is the Dean?
NMC: Can you confirm that there is no “good time” in federal prison? You serve at least 80% of the sentence, don’t you?
NAAS:
You get two months credit for every 12 months served. If you are sentenced two 11 months and 29 days, you serve the whole sentence, but if it were 12 months, you’d do 10.
justsittinhere:
Ole Miss bred me to an extent. I’ve lived in Oxford a long, long time. I want the law school to deal with this in a direct way, and I think this may be one way to do it. Henry Lackey is of the community that I’m in, and I want to honor that.
Everyone:
I’m ambivalent here. I think we need to be thinking about donations to Folo (which I don’t share but make it possible for Lotus to keep on keeping on), and the Innocence Project at Ole Miss, both, both of which I’ve blegged for, and worried that adding a third concern will thin out our support for the first and second. I would like to hear thoughts about it.
NAAS: I thought it was 85% but I’m not positive.
okay. i concede you make good points. how about donations to the innocence project in honor of judge lackey. but count me in whatever you do in honor of judge lackey even if it goes to dickie’s alma mater.
and NMC did i ever mention that all my kids went to ole miss law school, too. so i’m just raging against davis/khayat/scruggs right now. please no offense.
Justsittin’, I suggest that all who share your rage (# 61) express such in a letter to the Board members of the IHL.
After a statement by Mr. Scruggs in which he apologized and expressed his genuine remorse, Judge Biggers replied:
“The legal profession you say you love so much, you will not be a part of for the rest of your life.”
This statement was, simply put, unnecessary and mean-spirited.
I would gladly donate to a Judge Lackey Scholorship or whatever. We need to make an example out of him in such a way that his deeds are not forgotten, EVER!
good idea.
agreed fishwater.
Steve (#63) Some, including me, would disagree with your view of genuineness and judgment of Judge Biggers comment.
Eugster, if you think about it, the statement of Judge Biggers was quite judicious considering what he could have said. And besides, when one is talking to a convicted felon, one is not really bound by any notions of professional courtesy.
Biggers just made a statement of fact, with the implication that if Zach really loved the profession so much, he wouldn’t have done what he did. Biggers showed an appropriate amount of disdain and indignation as a representative of the legal system which Zach defrauded.
I’ve always respected the no-nonsense old-school manner that J.Biggers has always had. We need more of it.
Of all the characters in the play, Judge Biggers is the most honorable of them all.
He realizes there are more important cases to be tried, keeps to the docket and gives the impression that to oversee a case involving high-flying lawyers wrangling over legal fees and “talking out of school” to other judges is a great waste of time and taxpayers money.
Possibly the Federal Gov. did not have as good a case as many of us thought they did, i.e. the wiretaps.
I know you didn’t say “genuine remorse”…..
An analogy for those who disagree with my statement of personal opinion:
Every now and then I make a mistake while driving which upsets another driver and justifiably so. I usually realize my mistake and apologize for it, one way or another, by a signal of some kind to the driver I have wronged. Most wronged drivers will acknowlege both my wrongdoing and my apology. A small few will simply drive by and raise their fist and shake it or their hand with the middle finger prominently displayed. I think that small few wears real heavy on the spirit of community.
Steve (72) If you are comfortable with an analogy between a simple driving mistake and a conspiracy to bribe a judge then you and I will disagree on many, many things. Like you, I make driving mistakes, which are not intentional acts. But when I got my license to drive I don’t remember any ceremony where I was required to take an oath as when I was admitted to the bar; nor was I warned that making “mistakes” would revoke my ability to drive. When an attorney commits a felony, which by definition requires a certain mental state, saying “I’m sorry” shouldn’t, in my view , carry a whole lot of weight. Somehow the Ramsey cartoon after Dickie’s plea comes to mind, and would perhaps make a better analogy. Marriage requires solemn vows; when one party breaks those vows it is rarely viewed as a simple mistake by the innocent spouse. And remember, by committing these acts the defendants who were lawyers cheated on all of the honest folks who are a part of the justice system. Somehow in my mind the beacon of “genuine remorse” for getting caught shines a bit brighter than “genuine remorse” for the act itself. As a final thought, I submit for your consideration that it is those “small few” attorneys who commit felonies who “wear[s] real heavy on the spirit of community”, both legal and societal.
Bravo and amen, tiredlawyer.
I could not have said it better tiredlawyer!!!!
Question is …will Biggers do what he wants to do or follow the deal worked out by the Gov’t and lawyers. Would love to see the entire bunch knocked down a knotch even if it means a year behind a fence having to play golf which each other everyday. They are no better than the people that plea in the circuit system. Another question that comes to mind is since Zach’plea dropped some of his org indictments will the state now go after him? I really doubt any of the DA’s will touch it.
Steve(72), like you, apparently Dickie and Zach Scruggs saw no more harm in bribing judges as they did in a minor traffic offense. And such is why they are in the position they are in right now —no one else’s fault but their own delusion and arrogance.