Former Mississippi state auditor Steve Patterson (right) with attorney Hiram Eastland as he enters U.S. District Court for sentencing this morning. Patterson appeared light-hearted before being sentenced, asking the photographers taking his photo: “Where were you when I was running for office?” Photo by Bruce Newman.

2/13/09 – Last two judicial bribery defendants sentenced
Alyssa Schnugg
Staff Writer

The last two defendants in what’s been branded the Scruggs I judicial bribery case were sentenced to spend 24 months in federal prison for their roles in the scheme to bribe a circuit court judge.

Timothy Balducci and Steven Patterson both appeared before U.S. District Court Judge Neal B. Biggers this morning at the Federal Courthouse in Oxford.

Both men pleaded guilty a year ago to a charge of conspiring with Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, his son and attorney Zach Scruggs and his law partner Sidney Backstrom to bribe Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey with $40,000 for a favorable ruling in a lawsuit against the elder Scruggs involving legal fees in Hurricane Katrina related litigation.

During Balducci’s sentencing hearing, U.S. Assistant Attorney Bob Norman told the judge that his department had never seen such “complete cooperation” from another defendant. He said Balducci’s help has opened the doors to other investigations of corruption and that the Scruggs case got as far as it did because of Balducci’s assistance.

“His cooperation was immediate,” Norman said. “He’s doing the best he knows how to do to right the wrong he has done.”

Biggers agreed but reminded Balducci he was the “bag man” in the case.

“You carried the money,” he said. “You talked the judge into going along with what you wanted to do.”

Balducci told Biggers and the court that he was “profoundly sorry” for what he had done.

“All I can do now is try to make things as rights as I can,” Balducci said.

Norman also reported that Patterson has cooperated with the government, albeit to a lesser degree than Balducci.

Patterson was called a “minor” participant in the case, although he received the same sentence as Balducci.

Before he was sentenced, Patterson said he was embarrassed and humiliated.

“If God gave me a choice to live carefree in paradise the rest of my life, or to choose to go back two years ago and change my actions, I would not hesitate to enlist to do the latter,” he told Biggers.

Both men will report to prison on March 25. The government asked for the later reporting dates because their testimony may be needed when the grand jury meets in the March.

The saga began on Nov. 27, 2007, when FBI agents raided Scruggs’ office on the Square. The next day, the five men were indicted.

On Dec. 5, 2007, the day of his arraignment, Balducci pleaded guilty to the bribery charge.

It was later learned that Balducci had been working with the government in building its case against Scruggs and the others.

But it was also Balducci who got the ball rolling. In trying to gain favor with Scruggs, during a meeting with the other defendants in March 2006, he told the famous trial attorney that he could use his friendship to corruptly influence the judge to find in favor of Scruggs in the lawsuit Jones v. Scruggs.

After Balducci approached Lackey and suggested that if Lackey would find in favor of Scruggs, he would give Lackey a place in his law firm after Lackey retired. Appalled, Lackey told the FBI about the conversation. For six months, Lackey allowed his office and telephone to be tapped. In September 2006, in another meeting with Balducci, the subject of money came up and Balducci offered Lackey $40,000. It was later discovered Scruggs was providing the funds.

Balducci was approached by the FBI in November 2007 and he began cooperating with the government and wore a wire tap himself on the day the money was given to Lackey.

Scruggs was sentenced in June to spend five years in a federal prison in Kentucky. His son is serving a 14-month sentence in Forrest City, Ark., and Backstrom is serving 28 months in Forrest City.

Earlier this week, Scruggs was sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in a bribery case involving Hinds Circuit Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter, which came to light during the Lackey case and through testimony of Balducci. The sentence will run concurrent with his original five-year sentence.

All right, a slightly-more usual image of this kind of situation: freshly-arraigned defendant Bobby DeLaughter led out of the courthouse by his lawyer Cynthia Speetgens. But the thing NMC noticed is still intact: their body language makes them entirely separate, in no way a team.

Anyhow, here’s Alyssa’s story:

2/12/09 – Judge DeLaughter enters not guilty plea
Alyssa Schnugg
Staff Writer

A circuit court judge who had an ambition to become a federal judge found himself at the U.S. Federal Courthouse in Oxford this morning — but not in the role he had hoped.

Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Bobby DeLaughter pleaded not guilty this morning to a five-count indictment after being brought into the court room in shackles.

The indictment remained sealed at press time this morning, but was expected to be made public later today. DeLaughter’s indictment stems from a lawsuit against Richard “Dickie” Scruggs over legal fees where DeLaughter was the presiding judge. The government claims DeLaughter was influenced to rule in Scruggs’ favor.

Accompanied by his attorney, Cynthia Speetjens, DeLaughter turned himself into the U.S. Marshals at the Federal Courthouse at about 8 this morning.

U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Allan Alexander set DeLaughter’s bail at $10,000. His trial is set for April 6 before U.S. District Judge Glen Davidson.

Scruggs pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of mail fraud. In the information filed against him, the government says Scruggs, along with former attorneys Joseph Langston and Timothy Balducci, Balducci’s business partner Steven Patterson and former Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters, conspired and devised a plan to corruptly influence DeLaughter during the lawsuit, Wilson v. Scruggs.

The government says Scruggs hired Langston and Balducci to work with Peters, who was a close personal friend of DeLaughter, to gain influence over the judge.

The lure was to entice DeLaughter with a federal bench appointment with help from Scruggs’ brother-in-law, former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott. Scruggs contacted Lott and suggested DeLaughter for the judgeship. Lott then called DeLaughter.

DeLaughter has been suspended from the bench pending the outcome of the investigation.

DeLaughter once worked for Peters as an assistant district attorney. They made headlines in 1994 by successfully prosecuting Byron de la Beckwith for the 1963 assassination of Mississippi civil rights leader Medgar Evers. The case was portrayed in the 1996 movie “Ghosts of Mississippi” and actor Alec Baldwin portrayed DeLaughter in the film.

The case came to light during an investigation into Scruggs, his son Zach, his law partner Sidney Backstrom, Balducci and Patterson for attempting to bribe Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey.

All five men have pleaded guilty. The elder Scruggs was sentenced Tuesday to spend seven years in a federal prison in Kentucky in conjunction with the five-year sentenced he was given last year for his role in the Lackey bribe. His son is serving a 14-month sentence in Forrest City, Ark., and Backstrom is serving 28 months in Forrest City for their roles in the earlier bribe. Balducci and Patterson are set to be sentenced Friday.

[Dickie] Scruggs is serving a five-year prison sentence for attempting to bribe Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey in 2007 — along with four other men — with $40,000 for a favorable ruling in a lawsuit against him involving $26.5 million in legal fees from Hurricane Katrina. Scruggs’ son, Zach, and a former law partner, Sidney Backstrom, are serving lesser prison sentences for their role in the conspiracy. Former attorney Tim Balducci and former state auditor Steven Patterson are scheduled to be sentenced Friday.

Early in the investigation, former Booneville attorney Joseph Langston represented Scruggs until he, himself, was indicted for conspiring with Scruggs and others to bribe Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter for a favorable ruling in a separate lawsuit against Scruggs, which also pertained to legal fees.

Langston pleaded guilty in January 2008 and has been sentenced to three years in prison. Until now, he’s the only person to be indicted in the case. The Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson reported Friday that Scruggs was set to plead guilty Tuesday in the DeLaughter case, but that has not been confirmed by The EAGLE. …

According to Langston, he and others traveled to Jackson several times to engage former Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters, who was a “close personal friend to DeLaughter,” as a consultant to assist them in the case of Wilson v. Scruggs, which was pending before DeLaughter at the time. Langston represented Scruggs in that case along with Balducci.

The charges say Langston and Patterson delivered $50,000 in cash to Peters in exchange for his help in influencing DeLaughter. After the case was settled and according to an earlier agreement with Scruggs, Langston along with Patterson and Peters split $3 million which represented Scruggs’ savings from the favorable ruling.

Jerry cues the Jaws music with “If DeLaughter is charged, he could face possible testimony from Scruggs, Langston and others, including his former boss, one-time District Attorney Ed Peters, who is cooperating with authorities.” Eschewing a certain local law professor, he goes farther afield for quotes and drops the new nugget I’ve bolded:

Oxford lawyer Grady Tollison, who led the Katrina legal fees litigation against Scruggs, said if Scruggs pleads guilty, “I think it would have a definite effect” on Wilson’s litigation.

He noted that Langston’s guilty plea bolsters Wilson’s claim that the case should be reopened and DeLaughter’s rulings tossed. Wilson is seeking additional damages through a federal lawsuit filed in Oxford.

Carl Tobias, a professor for the University of Richmond School of Law, said it is unusual to have a defendant return from prison to plead guilty in a related case. “Usually, if they’re pretty close in time and they’re related, you’d try to do them together and have a package deal,” he said.

Last year, prosecutors reportedly offered Scruggs a deal in which he could plead guilty in both cases, and, in exchange, prosecutors would recommend he serve no more than seven years in prison. But Scruggs reportedly balked at the offer.

Although the Hinds County lawsuit ended with a settlement, bribery allegations could be used to try and reopen the case, Tobias said. “It’s not clear how a judge would resolve it.”

Okay, if Jerry’s got it right, Dickie’s in for an additional five years . . . or more? Whaddaya think?

Drawing back from the hint-dropping she indulged in earlier, Patsy now allows only, “It’s still not clear if anyone else ensnared in this case, known as ‘Scruggs II,’ will appear with him as a co-defendant” and that Lafayette Sheriff Buddy East “said he wasn’t aware Scruggs had any visitors” during his four days in county jail.

In Alyssa’s second story, on the Balducci and Patterson pre-sentencing letters, we find that sweet Brother Flemming proving once again why we don’t want preachers running our court system.

Oxford has had its fair share of being in the limelight this year, such as hosting the first presidential debate in September on the University of Mississippi campus.

But just a few months prior, it was the rise and fall of prominent attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, often referred to as the “Tort King,” that turned all eyes on Oxford in 2008.

On Nov. 28, 2007, Scruggs, his son Zach Scruggs, law partner Sidney Backstrom, former attorney Timothy Balducci and former state auditor Steven Patterson were indicted on federal charges for trying to bribe Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey with $40,000 for a favorable ruling in a lawsuit — Jones v. Scruggs —against the elder Scruggs over Hurricane Katrina litigation.

After several months of motions, rumors, months-long bouts of silence, guilty-plea agreements and about 400 letters asking for leniency, Scruggs was sentenced in June to spend five years in a federal prison in Kentucky.

His son is serving a 14-month sentence in Forrest City, Ark., and Backstrom is serving 28 months in Forrest City.

Balducci and Patterson have not been sentenced. The lawsuit has since been settled.

National attention

The case received national attention with news articles appearing in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Wall Street Journal — as well as daily headlines in local and regional newspapers.

Local attorney and legal blogger Tom Freeland followed the Scruggs case extensively on www.folo.us.

“The case involved a lawyer who had been as high profile as possible, and allegations — that turned out to be true — of an attempt to actually bribe a sitting trial judge,” Freeland said. “Both parts of that sentence make for an attention-grabbing case.”

Freeland said the story has a “live by the sword, die by the sword quality.”

“The defendants had used and benefited from the use of publicity in their cases for some time, and now had that hurting them in their own case,” he said.

Law offices raided

The saga began on Nov. 27, when FBI agents raided Scruggs’ office on the Square, which is now closed and up for sale.

The next day, the five men were indicted.

On the day of his arraignment, Balducci pleaded guilty to the bribery charge on Dec. 5. It was later learned that Balducci had been working with the government in building its case against Scruggs and the others.

In the middle of all clamor about the famous trial attorney’s fall from grace, his own attorney, Joey Langston of Booneville, was arrested and pleaded guilty to conspiring with Scruggs and others to engage Ed Peters — a “close personal friend” of Hinds County Judge Bobby DeLaughter — as a “consultant” to assist them in the case of Wilson v. Scruggs. That case involved a dispute over attorneys’ fees which was pending before DeLaughter at that time.

Langston represented Scruggs in that case along with Balducci, according to court documents.

DeLaughter has denied any knowledge of the conspiracy. Meanwhile, Langston’s sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16.

No other indictments have been handed down in that case as of this morning — although Assistant U.S. Attorney Bob Norman said there could be new developments in the case in the next month or so.

“The investigation is continuing,” was all Norman would say on the future of the Langston case.

Some courthouse observers wonder if the fact that Balducci and Patterson have not been sentenced yet is a sign of more indictments to come, while others theorize that the setting of a specific sentencing date for Langston may indicate the investigations could be coming to an end.

“That means little or nothing,” Freeland said. “It may be personal preferences by the judges as to docket management.”

The aftermath

While it’s been a year since the five men were indicted, Lackey’s role in the case started much earlier, and he couldn’t be any happier it’s over.

“I’m happy my part is over,” Lackey said recently. “I’m just saddened it happened at all because of the impact it had on so many bright young lawyers.”

After a meeting in March 2007 between Balducci, the Scruggses, Backstrom and Patterson, Balducci told the others he thought he could influence Lackey because of their friendship.

Balducci went to see Lackey shortly thereafter and suggested to Lackey he could give him a place in his law firm after Lackey retired, if he would grant Scruggs a motion to send the lawsuit to arbitration.

After the meeting, Lackey reported the conversation to the FBI. He began working with the FBI and allowed his phones and office to be wired. Eventually, those conversations led to Balducci offering Lackey $40,000, and to the arrests of Balducci and the others for their roles in the scheme.

“I’m saddened on the impact on the reputation of our bar,” Lackey said. “But I am happy to know our system works. It’s not perfect; nothing I know of is perfect. But it does work, and it worked because of cooperation between the bar and the bench.”

Lackey said he’s been able to move on and didn’t even realize it’s been one year since the arrests, although it has made him more cautious about his conversations with attorneys.

“Even though it may be as innocent as it can be, appearances of impropriety can cause a problem in itself,” he said.

The Mississippi Bar and local attorneys are still reeling from the hit the legal profession took this year.

“The case hurt the reputation of the bench and bar, and will likely continue to do so,” Freeland said. “The only thing that can be done to mitigate that damage is a demonstration to the public that these problems — and solving them — are taken seriously. A perception that there has been a reform effort — based on reality — I think matters.”

Telling the tale

Author and University of Mississippi journalism professor Curtis Wilkie has been hired by Kneeriam-Williams Literacy Agency to write a book about the rise and fall of Scruggs. The manuscript is due September 2009.

Wilkie, a friend to Scruggs, said he’s corresponded with the Scruggses during their incarceration.

“Dickie has kept his sense of humor up in his letters to me,” Wilkie said. “I think with all things considered, the family is holding up well and handling things as well as possible.”

Wilkie said the elder Scruggs battled some health issues when he first arrived in prison.

“I think he was hospitalized briefly,” Wilkie said. “But he’s healthy now and exercising a great deal.”

While the Scruggs case may have divided the legal community for a short time, Wilkie doesn’t believe the reputations of Oxford or the Ole Miss School of Law have been blemished.

“I don’t think it reflected badly on the school or the community,” he said. “But it obviously causes people in the legal profession to reflect more seriously on what all this has meant — not just the indictments and charges, but how the case has been handled.

“There’s an awful lot of questions that haven’t been answered.”

—alyssa@oxfordeagle.com

Alyssa Schnugg

Staff Writer

Oxford Eagle

662-234-4331 Ext. 245

Hmm, November 28 . . . you know, that rings a bell. On this date one year ago, certain activity in Oxford (pdf) turned Dickie Scruggs’ — and Zach Scruggs’, Sidney Backstrom’s, and Steve Patterson’s — worlds upside down (we didn’t know then that Tim Balducci’s already had been and Joey Langston’s was about to be). The event’s effect on this brand-new little blog wasn’t immediately apparent either, but to say “changed everything” is mere approximation. Don’t know about you, but this one feels more like five years to me — and I’m not even Trent Lott, Ed Peters, Bobby DeLaughter, or PL Blake! As Patsy Brumfield has a look back and forth, I say Happy Anniversary, Scruggsiana.

From Mumbai, with the attack apparently over, the Times of India puts the death toll at 195 (at least 22 were non-Indian; five were Americans or had lived in the US, two were Canadians); eternal peace to them all. Though Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari promised Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to send his intelligence chief to help in the investigation, such opposition to that arose in Pakistan that now only a “representative,” not the ISI chief himself, will go. (What’s Urdu for “Psych!”?) As The Guardian‘s Richard Norton-Taylor and sources discuss the difficulty of spotting terrorists such as these in time to stop them, WaPo describes the focus on Pakistani militants, and Juan Cole and Pat Lang advise that resolving the Pakistani-Indian standoff over Kashmir needs Obama Administration commitment equal to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian one (Lang recommends partition).

Kevin Drum, posting about Samantha Power’s return to Camp Obama (on the transition team analyzing State Department personnel, operations, and policy), notes that

If we accept the conventional wisdom that Obama’s choice of Clinton as Secretary of State is a generous gesture meant to help unify the party, then there would be few more forthright ways for Clinton to reciprocate than by nominating Power for some kind of meaningful position at Foggy Bottom.

Then he adds the sentence italicized in this comment:

It would be a good sign that those hatchets have been well and truly buried.

Oh no, no, no. We’re not giving up that easily. If Hillary’s involved, there’s drama! There’s intrigue! Maybe some backstabbing! And sex!!

And even if there’s not, that’s our story and we’re going to tell that way.

Posted by: The Cable Yakkers on 11/28/08 at 6:07 PM

Hee.

Wiggle a paw if you’ve been stuffing it in like Mocha here:

Click here to view the embedded video.

8/19/08 – Lawsuit that felled famed attorney settled
Alyssa Schnugg
Staff Writer

The lawsuit against former trial attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs — that led to his being incarcerated — has been settled, Oxford attorney Grady Tollison said this morning.

"We settled Thursday morning," Tollison said.

On behalf of Jackson law firm, Jones, Funderburg, Sessums, Peterson & Lee, Tollison filed a lawsuit in March 2007 against Scruggs and other former members of the now defunct Scruggs Katrina Group. Jackson attorney Johnny Jones claimed his firm was pushed out of the Scruggs Katrina Group and only offered a fraction of what was owned to them for the firm’s work on several Hurricane Katrina-related cases.

In November, Scruggs, along with his son, Zach, law partner Sidney Backstrom, former attorney Timothy Balducci and his partner and former state auditor Steven Patterson were charged with attempting to bribe Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey for a favorable ruling in the Jones v. Scruggs suit. All five men have pleaded guilty.

The elder Scruggs is serving a five-year sentence for his lead role in the scheme. Zach is serving 14 months on a lesser charge of knowing about a felony and failing to report it. Backstrom is serving 28 months in prison for his role in the attempted bribe.

Balducci and Patterson have not been sentenced.

Tollison said the amount of the settlement is confidential.

Also listed in the suit are the Barrett Law Office, Nutt & McAlister and Lovelace law firms — which were all part of the SKG when it was formed.

Tollison said his client has also settled with the Nutt & McAlister Law Firm. He said he expects to go to trial against the Barrett and Lovelace firms.

"We’re attempted to [settle] with them," Tollison said. "But my feeling is, we’re headed for trial."

In April, Circuit Court Judge William Coleman ruled Jones’ firm is entitled to fees and possibly punitive damages since the lawsuit lead to the attempted bribe.

Last week, the Mississippi Supreme Court granted a hearing to decide whether the lawsuit should go to arbitration and a temporary stay on all proceedings in the lawsuit. The trial against Barrett and Lovelace is currently set for November, but that could change due to the Supreme Court’s ruling last week.

8/18/08 – Court to hear arguments in Scruggs lawsuit
Alyssa Schnugg
Staff Writer

The Mississippi Supreme Court has granted Richard "Dickie" Scruggs and former Scruggs Katrina Group attorneys a hearing to decide whether a lawsuit involving Hurricane Katrina litigation should go to arbitration.

In April, Circuit Court Judge William Coleman ruled the law firm of Jones, Funderburg, Sessums, Peterson and Lee is entitled to fees and possibly punitive damages arising from their case against the Scruggs Katrina Group for $26.5 million in legal fees from Hurricane Katrina-related litigation. Coleman ruled in favor of the Jones firm because the lawsuit over legal fees led to the attempt by members of the Scruggs Law Firm to bribe Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey — the original judge presiding over the lawsuit.

Scruggs is now serving a five-year prison sentence for his involvement in the bribe attempt. His son, Zach, is serving 14 months and his former law partner, Sidney Backstrom, is serving 28 months for their roles in the scheme.

The Jones firm claims it is entitled to 20 percent of all past attorney fees collected by the Scruggs Katrina Group, of which it was once a part before being "frozen out" by Scruggs and the other attorneys in the group who are also listed in suit — the Barrett Law Office, Nutt & McAlister and Lovelace law firms.

Scruggs and the others argued the case should be sent to arbitration as set out in an agreement when the group was first formed.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court granted the Scruggs group a hearing and a temporary stay on all proceedings in the lawsuit.

The Mississippi [sic] Bureau of Prisons on Friday granted Zach Scruggs his wish to serve out his jail time in Arkansas to be closer to his family.

Last week the bureau sent Zach Scruggs a letter to report to the federal prison in Pensacola, Fla. but his attorney’s asked U.S. District Senior Judge Neal Biggers to recommend the younger Scruggs be sent to Arkansas instead.

According to documents filed Friday, the bureau changed its "mind" and is now allowing Scruggs to serve his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution Low Satellite Camp in Forrest City, Ark., where his former law partner, Sidney Backstrom, will be serving his 28-month sentence.

Can’t help but wonder whether the BOP expected trouble if it placed either Scruggs in the same joint with Paul Minor. This would be interesting to know, wouldn’t it?

OXFORD – U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee has asked the court to dismiss remaining charges against famed attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs and two others ensnared in a judicial bribery scheme.

One motion asks to dismiss the six-count indictment against Scruggs’ son Zach, who pleaded guilty to knowing about the crime but not reporting it. He was sentenced to 14 months in prison and will enter a Pensacola, Fla., facility by Aug. 15.

Two other motions, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Oxford, ask dismissal of Counts 2-6 against Sidney Backstrom and Dickie Scruggs. …

Here it is on the DJournal; the C-L has a different, shorter version.

(h/t ccvz)

In the Sun Herald, Anita Lee writes:

Now that judgments have been entered in a judicial bribery case, the Mississippi Bar has renewed its request that the Mississippi Supreme Court disbar or indefinitely suspend attorneys Dickie Scruggs, his son, Zach Scruggs, and Sidney Backstrom. …

And up at the DJournal, Patsy Brumfield has it:

… On July 9, the Mississippi Bar Association asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to disbar them, meaning they lose their law licenses.

“Sidney A. Backstrom consents to the Bar’s requested relief,” Backstrom’s attorney, Frank Trapp of Jackson, said in a motion filed two days after the Bar’s disbarment motion.

The same day, the court received nearly identical disbarment requests for the Scruggses.

The Bar tried to disbar them after their pleas a few months ago, but the state’s highest court apparently decided to wait until the proceedings were complete. …

To which Anita adds:

Backstrom is the son of a former Coast Circuit Court judge, James Backstrom, who is deceased. In a letter to the judge before he was sentenced, Backstrom’s wife said her husband is devastated because he fears that he harmed his father’s legacy.

Makes you wonder about whether MSSC’s had quite all the plumbing repair it may need, hm?