Legal News

Pre-Gaming the Scruggs Sentence: Will Dickie Get 5 Years?

By Ashby Jones

Famed plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs is slated to be sentenced later this morning for conspiring to bribe a Mississippi judge, a crime to which he pleaded guilty back in March. If things go badly, he could be looking at 60 months in prison, the statutory maximum. If things go Scruggs’s way, however, he could receive half that.

The world of federal sentencing, with its guidelines and points and departures, has always, frankly, sort of confounded us. But in re Scruggs, the crux of the debate on his sentence revolves around the monetary benefit he could have derived from the bribe. The U.S. Probation office has pegged that figure at $5.3 million. Scruggs and co-defendant Sidney Backstrom put the figure much lower — at $50,000. Here are stories from the AP, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and the Biloxi Sun-Herald.

Prosecutors have agreed that Backstrom, who also pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe judge Henry Lackey, should serve no more than 30 months. Scruggs’s son, Zach, who pleaded guilty to a lesser crime, is slated to be sentenced July 2.

Meanwhile, in other Scruggs news…. Months ago, to ensure we were on top of the Dickie Scruggs story, we set up a Google Alert under the word “Scruggs” to send us news roundups every day. Early on, in addition to notes about Dickie and Zach, we got alerts about famed banjo player Earl Scruggs.

Then, this spring, we started getting alerts on stories featuring a fellow named Xavier Scruggs, a power-hitting junior corner infielder for UNLV. As the plight of Dickie and Zach worsened, the fortunes for young Xavier got better and better. Turns out, Xavier, contrary to some expectations, had a monster year for the Runnin’ Rebs, hitting .379 with 20 home runs and 65 RBIs. He was named Mountain West Conference player of the year and, earlier this month, was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. Earlier this week, he signed with the Cards and was assigned to the team’s short-season A-ball team in Batavia, N.Y., the Batavia Muckdogs. Congratulations Xavier!

Photos: AP, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 27, 2008 (boomark / email).