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There was some news in Tom Dawson’s statement, primarily a confirmation that Scruggs II is really coming.

Asst US Attorney Tom Dawson:

We have filed a motion for a downward departure pursuant to the terms of the plea agreement. That motion is detailed and comprehensive. I would like to expand on two points, if the court pleases. Late in December of 2007 the US Attorney’s office was in the pretrial stages in what has become known as Scruggs I. The evidence in that case was extremely strong. But there’s no case in my experience that can’t be made stronger. Faced with the growing evidence… Langston made a decision to plead guilty and testify against the defendants in what will become known as Scruggs II. To say this added evidentiary weight to Scruggs I would be an understatement. It was the capstone of that case. One day Mr. Langston was part of the Scruggs defense team and the next day he was a convicted defendant and a witness against Scruggs. We believe that Mr. Langston’s decision to cooperate was a significant factor in Scruggs I.

The second point is a little less obvious. In January ‘08 the US Attorney was committed to the task of litigating Scruggs I. Lawyers and paralegals on the Scruggs team by some reports was between 17 and 20. We had 3 lawyers. When Mr. Langston was confronted, he did not consider what is the usual path of white-collar defendants, particularly lawyers. This saved the prosecutor substantial resources in having to set up a parallel investigation. The assistance saved time, manpower, and resources. We have no doubt that Mr. Langston will continue the cooperation he has begun. One agent said exceedingly and more than he’d ever seen in his career. Ask the court to accept the plea agreement and favorably consider the 5K.1.