Two from the DJournal
This morning’s Daily Journal carries Patsy Brumfield’s survey of the four related cases impacted by the pleas Friday: U.S. v. Scruggs itself, of course, as well as Jones v. Scruggs, Wilson v. Scruggs, and that yet-to-be-born creature whose hyphenated surname may end up something like “Peters-DeLaughter-Scruggs-Lott.” It’s a good overview in chart-like format, listing synopses, players, and current status of each case.
Meanwhile, the editorial A sad spectacle bemoans that
The guilty plea Friday of Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs and his associate Sidney Backstrom in a conspiracy to bribe a circuit judge confirms the worst: Mississippi’s most feared plaintiffs’ attorney was willing to do anything - even the blatantly unethical and illegal - to win. …
After excoriating the perps and praising Judge Lackey, the piece concludes:
… There’s more to come, apparently. The case in which Langston pleaded guilty to an attempted bribe of Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter - with the suggestion of Scruggs’ involvement, but not his indictment - remains to be resolved. If pulled further into that and other cases, Scruggs could be looking at more than the five-year prison sentence the government recommeded after his guilty plea Friday.
It’s a sad spectacle, and it is made all the more so by the interwoven political threads. Scruggs’ special relationship with his brother-in-law, former Republican Sen. Trent Lott, and his and the other defendants’ heavy involvement in supporting mostly Democratic candidates cast a pall on the political system as well as the courts. Attorney General Jim Hood said recently that he could not be involved in any state prosecution of Scruggs, Langston and others because of his close association with them.
As in so many instances over the years, it was the federal government that intervened to ferret out corruption in Mississippi. Our state badly needs more emphasis on keeping its own house in order - whatever the political consequences.
Had it been me, I might have italicized and bolded the word “badly.”
March 17, 2008 at 8:20 am
Patsy misses on Wilson v. Scruggs and forgets to mention that the case is still open and in fact the lawyers for Wilson have filed a motion asking for DeLaughter (among others’
to step down from the case
March 17, 2008 at 11:58 am
Zack has hired Mike Moore according to DJournal.
March 17, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Gosh, I knew Mike Moore was hating that he was not getting publicity out of this. Wanting to sit at the counsel table and accompanying Scruggs to the Minor grand jury appearance: was nobody going to take pictures of him to put in the newspaper?!
March 17, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Nomiss, I really want to know what the heck that means. It’s a move that has a lot of different possible interpretations.
Maybe we should talk about this in the thread under the post just up about the Moore entry of appearance.
March 17, 2008 at 3:14 pm
patsy got this wrong luckey is not a player and not a part of this.