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Attorney who took on big tobacco faces sentencing
2008-06-27
JACKSON, Miss. - Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, a prominent attorney who took on tobacco, asbestos and insurance companies, was scheduled to be sentenced Friday for his role in a high-profile judicial bribery case. Scruggs, 62, earned hundreds of millions of dollars and became one of the wealthiest tort attorneys in the country during a legal career that took him to the top of his profession. But in March, Scruggs and former law partner Sidney Backstrom pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a state court judge. Scruggs initially denied doing anything wrong, then pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a deal that will likely keep his son from being imprisoned. The deal came with a recommended five-year sentence. Scruggs' attorneys submitted a motion Wednesday asking for a sentence of 30 to 37 months, which falls on the low end of federal sentencing guidelines. "If I had to put money on a number, I would put it on five years," said Matt Steffey, a legal professor at the Mississippi School of Law. Judges aren't bound by a prosecutor's recommendation but "they do carry a lot of weight," said Andrew Hruska, a former federal prosecutor in New York who has been following the case. Scruggs' attorney did not respond to messages. Scruggs, the brother-in-law of former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, gained prominence in the 1990s as one of the chief architects of the $206 billion nationwide tobacco settlements. That case was portrayed in the 1999 film "The Insider," starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe. Scruggs was indicted in November on charges he conspired with his son and several associates to bribe Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey for $50,000. Prosecutors said Scruggs wanted a favorable ruling in a dispute over $26.5 million in legal fees from a mass settlement of Hurricane Katrina insurance cases. According to court records and testimony, Timothy Balducci, an attorney and associate of Scruggs, went to see the judge, hoping their friendship could gain favor for Scruggs. The judge was uncomfortable with the situation and contacted federal authorities. The FBI told the judge to ask for $40,000 in cash and then set up surveillance at the courthouse. Balducci was arrested after dropping off the last payment. Balducci agreed to cooperate with the FBI and returned to Scruggs' office. Balducci told Scruggs the judge wanted more money, discussed the way the judge's order should read and captured it all with a hidden recorder. Scruggs' son, Zach Scruggs, pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony, meaning he knew a crime was committed but didn't report it. He will be sentenced next week. But this might not be the end of Scruggs' legal problems. His former defense attorney, Joey Langston of Booneville, has pleaded guilty to trying to influence another judge and has implicated Scruggs in that case. Langston claims Scruggs tried to influence Hinds County Judge Bobby DeLaughter in a dispute over asbestos fees by promising he could help DeLaughter get appointed to the federal bench with Lott's help. DeLaughter, a former assistant district attorney, gained national attention by prosecuting Byron De La Beckwith in the early 1990s for the 1963 murder of NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers. The case was portrayed in the 1996 film "Ghosts of Mississippi," with Alec Baldwin playing DeLaughter. Scruggs and the others have not been charged in that case.
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