Mike and Occam, ..tick, …tick, …tick, and whither Keker
What does it have to do with Scruggs this week? I think we now have enough public information to pretty close to fully understand the hiring of Mike Moore by Zach Scruggs:
Moore has a long and close relationship with the Scruggs family that I am sure includes a high level mutual trust. Moore has the kind of loyalty that leads him to do things like accompany Scruggs to his grand jury testimony in the Paul Minor case.
The addition of more lawyers from Kansas City and Graves’s public comment about why Zach won’t plea both make clear that this is about building a legal team for trial. While Mike Moore has almost no trial experience in decades, and probably no federal criminal experience at all, he is very much a known local lawyer. I’m not fully sure how his presence in the case will come across to a jury. It’s not impossible that it will be a net benefit.
Dickie Scruggs makes decisions with a serious eye toward public relations and also toward personal relationships. I can see him thinking he’s made the smart move here on both fronts, and that having an influence on Zach.
Moore likes being in the public eye, to put it mildly, and to a degree may even believe there is no such thing as bad publicity.
And I think each of the points I just made suggest that Zach has made a decision about adding Mike Moore to that has some arguable advantages. It’s a judgment call although in my judgment not the smartest decision I’ve seen.
FOLO
3/18/8
Magnolia Tribune
