Our very own former Attorney General Mike Moore is back in the saddle again. This time, he is the designated mouthpiece for his client Zach Scruggs in his violation of Bureau of Prison rules, which has now landed Zach in the Lafayette County Detention Center instead of a halfway house in Tupelo.
To evaluate the veracity of Mike “Tom Hagen” Moore, I think it’s only fitting to look at the veracity of his statements in all things Scruggs over the last year or so.
On 3/18/8, Moore unequivocably announced his client’s innocence. ““Zach is innocent of the charges pressed against him, and we look forward to his exoneration.”
Three days later, Zach took a plea deal. So much for innoncence.
Then on 4/16/8, in a hearing, after running red-faced out of a courtroom to defend his buddy Jim Hood’s honor Moore was quoted as saying “Judge Lackey either is very confused or he made up the story out of whole cloth”. Judge Lackey has been one of the few people whose credibiility has been beyond reproach in this whole mess, and a former AG and currently practicing attorney just called this sitting judge either demented or a bald face liar. Not too swuft.
Finally, on 7/3, Moore cracked this doozie . . . “His father is involved in something. What’s he going to do? Turn his father in?”
Uhhhh . . .yeah!
Then, bless his heart, Mike Moore’s court apprearance at Zach’s sentencing hearing was strained to say the least.
MR . MOORE : Judge, we know that. I just – –
THE COURT : Well, all right. Then, if I want you to
say anymore, Mr. Moore, I ‘ll ask for it.
So now with that little stoll down memory lane, Moore runs red-faced to the press again. With a hattip to Jan Goodrich, he goes to WLOX who quotes Moore as saying “Zach Scruggs has violated no law, no rule, no regulation. It is a mystery why the Bureau of Prisons picked him up and put him in the county jail. My guess is because he was seen in the square, a lot of people started calling.”
“The whole situation was driven by (Scruggs) stopping to have lunch in his hometown and visiting his kids, then people calling and blogging.”
“I have talked to the Bureau of Prisons regional manager and the halfway house manager, and none can cite any rule Zach violated. This will all get straightened out pretty quickly I bet,” Moore wrote. “He simply stopped to see his new baby and mom, who has been very ill, ate lunch and continued on to Tupelo.”
Scruggs law tip #1 – when your fat gets in the fryer . . . blame the bloggers.
Now, to believe Mike Moore about Zach getting “treated differently”, you have to now believe that the OBAMA-led Bureau of Prisons (1) now “has it in for” Zach and (2) has absolutely nothing better their time than to invent some “mystical violation” to create more work for themselves.
My bet is they told Zach to go from point A to point B and be at point B at a certain time without deviating. Time will tell. Thankfully for Zach, his lawyers can now appeal to the Obama administration that seem to be giving him all of this trouble. After all, it’s change he deserves.
Magnolia Tribune
