Legal News

In Saga of Scruggs & Son, Will There Be Blood?

By Ashby Jones

While Scruggs the Elder pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to bribe a judge, the saga continues. The latest: Speculation on whether Dickie will testify against his son, Zach; and a self-effacing move by Dickie and his wife, Diane.

A father-son showdown? Not likely. The younger Scruggs is the only individual among the five indicted last November on bribery-related charges who has yet to plead guilty. His trial is slated to begin on March 31.

One issue that’s been kicked around on various Web sites (click here and here): In a Shakespearean twist, will we see Dickie testify against his son?

Probably not, say lawyers. For starters, as part of his plea agreement, Dickie did not agree to cooperate with the government’s case. And, while lawyers say the government could grant immunity to the elder Scruggs and ask the judge to compel him to testify, that could open up problems for the government. First, prosecutors likely wouldn’t know what to expect from Dickie on the stand, given that he likely wouldn’t agree to a sit-down with prosecutors beforehand. Furthermore, putting Dickie on the stand could taint any case the feds may want to pursue against Dickie arising out of the Bobby DeLaughter bribery situation. Lastly, “the jury might not react well to it,” says Daniel Gitner, a white-collar defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor. “There’s something potentially unseemly about making a father testify against his son.”

But if Dickie does take the stand, things could get weird. He could find himself cross-examined by Mike Moore, the former attorney general of Mississippi who led the charge against the tobacco industry along with Dickie. Earlier this week, Zach hired Moore as counsel.

We’ll (Ole) Miss Ya, Dickie! Dickie Scruggs and his wife, Diane, have asked the University of Mississippi to remove his name from the school’s music hall. Here’s the report from the Clarion-Ledger.

“I received a letter from Mr. and Mrs. Scruggs Monday asking me to remove their names from the building,” Chancellor Robert Khayat said Tuesday afternoon, adding that no one had asked the Scruggses to make the request. “That tells your readers something about them,” Khayat told the Clarion-Ledger. “There are some people who would not have done that.”

LB YouTube Video of the Day: For our money, Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal of oilman Daniel Plainview (pictured) in “There Will Be Blood” was one of the best acting performances we’ve ever seen. Click here to enjoy the famous “salvation” scene, in which Plainview begrudgingly repents for abandoning his boy, H.W. Plainview.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 19, 2008 (boomark / email).