The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 12/21/8
Last week’s sentencing of former Booneville attorney Joseph C. “Joey” Langston marked the end and the beginning of the multiyear legal drama that has come to be known collectively as Scruggs I and Scruggs II.
– The end of Scruggs I because apparently everybody caught up legally in that judicial bribery scheme involving his client, Richard “Dickie” Scruggs of Oxford, was sentenced to prison.
– The beginning of Scruggs II because authorities appear ready to move ahead.
Tuesday, Langston learned he must serve three years in federal custody because of his admitted involvement in another judicial bribery scheme.
Scruggs I is the name given by investigators for the scheme to bribe Circuit Judge Henry Lackey of Calhoun City so that he would help Scruggs and his cohorts win a legal-fees lawsuit, Jones v. Scruggs.
Scruggs II is the name for allegations a group sought to bribe Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter of Hinds County, offering him a federal judgeship nomination for his help in another legal-fees lawsuit, Wilson v. Scruggs.
Langston, while not deemed culpable in Scruggs I, provided valuable information to federal investigators of what he knew about the case, the government says.
Magnolia Tribune
