Scruggs moved to transfer facility in Oklahoma
Fallen attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs is waiting to be transported to the prison where he will spend the next several years — although exactly how many years he’ll serve is uncertain at the moment.
The Bureau of Prisons Web site shows Scruggs spending four years less than what he was sentenced to spend.
Scruggs, who pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy charges stemming from two separate judicial bribery schemes, was being held at the Lafayette County Detention Center since he pleaded guilty in February to using the U.S. mail as part of a scheme to deprive the citizens of Mississippi of honest services from a state circuit court judge. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for his part in that scheme.
According to the Bureau of Prisons, Scruggs was moved from the detention center on Tuesday and is being held in a transfer center in Oklahoma City awaiting his final transfer to a prison facility. The BOP would not release which prison Scruggs is being transferred to, although it is likely he will return to the federal prison in Kentucky where he was already serving a five-year sentence for his role is attempting to bribe Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey.
The seven-year sentence he received in February was to run concurrent with his original five-year sentence which he received in 2008. Although Scruggs had served six months in prison prior to pleading guilty to the second indictment in February, the clock for the seven years was to begin the day he pleaded guilty, essentially meaning the six months he had already served would not be counted toward his time.
But according to the BOP Web site, Scruggs release date is Dec. 10, 2012 — less than three years from now.
Scruggs’ attorney, John Keker of California said Wednesday in an e-mail that Scruggs’ sentence has not changed.
“I don’t know what that date signifies,” Keker wrote.
Alyssa Schnugg
Oxford Eagle
5/7/9
Magnolia Tribune
