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(I can tell you right now, expect updates to this post.) Why, here’s one now.

So: Mike Moore claims to Patsy Brumfield and Holbrook Mohr that Judge Henry Lackey’s sworn testimony on Assistant District Attorney Lon Stallings’ warning him not to alert Jim Hood to Tim Balducci’s bribery approach was either “confused” or “made … out of whole cloth,” but in any case “the biggest bunch of bull I’ve ever heard.” Talk aboutcher Stepping In It.

In so claiming, Moore sent Oxford reporters Alyssa Schnugg, of the Eagle, and Paul Quinn, of the Daily Mississippian, into action. Their stories aren’t online yet, but since both comment here, we have the news-before-it’s-the-news. NMC previously quoted Alyssa/LydiaLaw’s heads-up, and now here’s Paul/dmwriter’s:

Guys, [Stallings' boss, District Attorney] Ben Creekmore told me Stallings never texted Moore and does not have text message capability. Creekmore was not sure why Patsy ran a one-side story without contacting his office.
Why would Stallings say Lackey was lying, he has to appear before Lackey regularly why would he accuse Lackey of lying on the stand.
He questioned Brumfields motives behind publishing the story.
Watch thedmonline to see an interview with Stallings and Creekmore

Well, while watching thedmonline for that interview, I’ve run into yet another scoop from Paul: wouldja believe it? of all people, Keker has finally learned discretion.

Criminal defense attorney for [Dickie] Scruggs John Keker said he expects the sentencing [in U.S. v Scruggs] to be sometime in May or June. He said he had an opinion about today’s ruling but he was not talking about it with the media.

The Scruggs Law Firm has recently removed the sign above their building on the Square leaving only an imprint of the old letters; however Keker would not talk about the state of the firm. [Emph. mine.]

After picking yourself up off the floor, hurry to the Eagle’s current front page to catch a photo of John Jones in court with his lawyers (Grady Tollison on the left). It’s above the link to Alyssa’s Wednesday story, an absolute must-read (Alys, would you please forward that permanent link when it’s available? Thanks). Two sample passages suggest what I mean:

John Jones, a founding partner of the Jackson-based Jones, [Funderburg], Sessums, Peterson and Lee Law Firm, said today’s decision was about ethics and not about money.

"Thank God for our judges, " he said after Coleman’s ruling. "We always had confidence that if anyone truly neutral heard this proof then the case would be over, and it essentially is.

"I just hope the message is not about our money, but about the fact these penalties have to send a message to the entire Bar and to the public that you can’t tamper with the integrity of our system of justice — and if you do, you get the harshest penalties our law can impose on you. "

And best of all:

Scruggs took the stand Tuesday morning but invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination to not testify to all of Grady Tollison’s 19 questions.

Lackey was not so quiet when it was his turn to take the stand.

During questioning, Lackey described being approached by Balducci in March, who told Lackey he would consider it a "personal favor " if Lackey could give a favorable ruling to Scruggs and the former Scruggs Katrina Group members. He offered Lackey a position in his firm after Lackey’s retirement.

"I was incensed. I actually became physically ill, " Lackey said. …

"I did not realize what a monster we were dealing with fully until now, " Lackey said of Scruggs. "I realize what he has done to destroy our profession, more than anything in my lifetime.["]

While on the stand, Lackey said he had learned that Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood had told District Attorney Lon Stallings that Scruggs, through former Attorney General Mike Moore, had promised him if he did not go along with the settlement of these State Farm cases and allow them to collect this $26 million in attorney’s fees, that ["]they would find a candidate who would run against him and they would fund it just like they were going to do the Commissioner of Insurance. "

Mayo objected to the statement and asked for it to be stricken from the record. Coleman sustained the objection. Moore, who was present the hearing, looked down and shook his head during Lackey’s comments. A call to Hood’s office was not returned Tuesday. …

Now, exactly why the state’s largest papers — the Clarion-Ledger, the Sun Herald, the Daily Journal — and all its TV stations found themselves unable to report Judge Lackey’s “I did not realize what a monster we were dealing with fully until now” is a very very good question. Too late for them now.

Watch this space for links to Alyssa’s and Paul’s new stories. To the grief of the Scruggs-Moore ilk, as with good judges, good journalism is available in Mississippi — it’s just that, like that other lost ball in high weeds, it requires some rooting-around-for.