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Younger Scruggs to serve 14 months in jail
Zach Scruggs also ordered to pay $250,000 fine
By Alyssa Schnugg
Staff Writer
U.S. District Senior Judge Neal B. Biggers Jr. said he had a hard time believing Zach Scruggs wasn’t aware of any money being exchanged during a judicial bribery attempt, prior to sentencing Scruggs to spend 14 months in prison.
Scruggs, his father, Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs, former attorney Timothy Balducci, former state auditor Steve Patterson and the Scruggses’ law partner Sidney Backstrom were charged in November for attempting to bribe Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey with $40,000 for a favorable ruling in a lawsuit filed against the elder Scruggs.
In March, Zach Scruggs pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misprision of a felony, which means he had knowledge a felony had occurred but didn’t report it to authorities.
During his sentence, Zach Scruggs’ attorney, Mike Moore, said his client’s only knowledge was that Balducci was sent to talk to Lackey and use his long-time friendship with Lackey to send the lawsuit to arbitration.
‘He never had any knowledge there was a conspiracy to bribe the judge,’ said Moore, who is the former Mississippi Attorney General.
‘He isn’t being sentenced for conspiracy,’ Biggers said. ‘It’s a stretch to believe that Backstrom never mentioned there was any money involved.’
Zach Scruggs will also serve a year on supervised probation after his release and was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine.
Moore told Biggers that Zach Scrugg’s wife was expecting their third child and asked the judge if Zach Scruggs could turn himself after his child was born in October.
‘You may file a written motion and the court will consider it,’ Biggers said.
On Friday, the senior Scruggs was sentenced to five years in prison and Backstrom received a 28-month sentence. They were ordered to turn themselves into on Aug. 4 to begin their sentences. Balducci and Patterson have not yet been sentenced. No court date has been set for them.
Zach Scruggs said he was deeply sorry for his involvement in the case.
‘I wish I could go back and change what happened …,’ Zach Scruggs told the court. ‘I should have stopped what happened. I should have objected to what happened … I’m deeply sorry and remorseful and I ask this court for forgiveness.’
Biggers called Zach Scruggs’ case a ‘sad’ one, particularly since it was his own father who got him involved with the illegal activity.
Biggers chastised the junior Scruggs for not respecting Judge Lackey, despite his comments about respecting and loving the law during his plea hearing.
‘You didn’t show respect for the Circuit Court when you said, –’We need to get this signed before some other (expletive) gets the case,” Biggers said, referring to a comment Zach Scruggs made on one of the tapes.
During the sentencing hearing, Biggers and Moore butted heads frequently.
‘If I want you to respond, I will ask you to,’ Biggers said at one point.
It was apparent Scruggs and his attorneys, Todd Graves and Moore, were not prepared for a sentence which included prison time since the government asked for leniency for the younger Scruggs and recommended probation.
Moore asked Biggers if he could include a request for a particular institution for Scruggs to serve his sentence in his motion.
‘We were not prepared to do that,’ Moore said. ‘We have not given any consideration about where Mr. Scruggs would go.’
According to the Mississippi Bar, the Scruggses and Backstrom will lose their licenses to practice law for pleading guilty to a felony. The Mississippi Supreme Court will consider disbarment petitions against Dickie and Zach Scruggs and Backstrom in the July-August term, according to the Associated Press. Balducci already has relinquished his law license. Patterson was not an attorney.
–alyssa@oxfordeagle.com
