Legal News

The Mess in Mississippi: Is the Spotlight Now on Sid?

By Ashby Jones

We’d really love it if the next time we heard the word “Mississippi” was Sunday night, when commentators are certain to point out that both the Giants’ Eli Manning (Ole Miss) and the Packers’ Brett Favre (Southern Miss) have deep Magnolia State ties. But with the Scruggs situation continuing to pick up steam, we doubt we’ll be so lucky. The latest from Scruggs Nation:

• Prosecutors are alleging that the judge in the Joey Langston case, Bobby DeLaughter, sent out a rough draft of a planned opinion before he issued it, with the intention that lawyers hired by Scruggs would be able to see it before a final version was filed. Here’s a transcript of Langston’s recent hearing in front of Judge Michael Mills, as well as stories from the AP and the Clarion-Ledger. Judge DeLaughter has denied accepting any bribes and has defended his ruling in favor of Scruggs in the dispute with other lawyers over fees from asbestos litigation.
• In the case involving Judge Lackey, the White-Collar Crime Prof Blog suggests we turn our attention to Sid Backstrom, one of the three defendants in the case who have yet to agree to plead guilty (along with Dickie and Zach Scruggs). Writes Peter Henning:
  

  With the trial not set to start for two months, an interesting question is whether Sidney Backstrom . . . will make a deal with prosecutors. The government will put as much pressure as it can on him to cooperate because to this point all the prosecutors have is testimony from people on the outside of the Scruggs firm — Balducci and his former partner, Steven Patterson, who entered a guilty plea recently. The key to the three defendants’ position is a united front in which they can claim ignorance of the alleged bribe and paint a picture of an overzealous judge who created the appearance of Scruggs’ involvement. Backstrom is the most likely person to plead guilty at this point simply because I can’t see Dickie Scruggs admitting to a crime — absent a “smoking gun” document — nor Zach Scruggs rolling over on his father. I am only speculating about this, but these types of corruption cases rely on the testimony of insiders, and Backstrom seems like the best candidate at this point.

Law Blog YouTube Video of the Day: Let’s turn our attention away from one Bobby (DeLaughter) and to another, chess guru Bobby Fischer, who, it was revealed today, died recently at the age of 64. Here’s an interesting little clip on the famous Spassky/Fischer match of 1972.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 18, 2008 (boomark / email).