Former longtime Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters, identified as a participant in an alleged bribery scheme, has turned in his bar license in a move legal experts say suggests he has struck a deal.
Federal authorities are investigating allegations he schemed with associates of imprisoned former lawyer Dickie Scruggs to bribe Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter, once Peters’ protege in the district attorney’s office, for a favorable ruling in a lawsuit.
Peters’ action may signal he could dodge charges in exchange for his cooperation, said Matt Steffey, professor at Mississippi College School of Law.
According to his petition to the Mississippi Bar, Peters, who is in his early 70s, submitted his “irrevocable resignation” following an unspecified “disciplinary matter” before the bar’s Committee on Professional Responsibility. “In view of my retirement and resignation, I do not desire to defend this matter,” Peters’ petition states.
Peters’ decision to turn in his license means “he’s forever barred from practicing law and cannot apply for reinstatement,” said Adam Kilgore, general counsel for the Mississippi Bar. “This is the ultimate punishment. It doesn’t get any more serious than losing your license and to not be able to practice law.”
As part of his cooperation, Peters has agreed to turn over $425,000 remaining from a $1 million “reverse contingency fee” he received for allegedly influencing DeLaughter to rule in favor of Scruggs in a legal fees dispute involving a former Scruggs law partner, Bob Wilson.
Federal authorities have filed paperwork for the government to take the $425,000, which remained after “federal income taxes and losses incurred as a result of recent stock market conditions,” U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee of Oxford wrote.
Peters’ surrender of his law license is “an admission of guilt that he violated the ethics rules,” Kilgore said.
Jerry Mitchell
Clarion Ledger
1/7/9
Magnolia Tribune
