BREAKING – Brumfield Exclusive – Zach Scruggs: I am innocent of all charges
OXFORD – Zach Scruggs says new evidence and legal developments show he’s innocent of federal charges that sent him to prison in a judicial bribery scandal that rocked Mississippi’s legal world.
Scruggs, 36, of Oxford today filed a request the U.S. District Court to give him a hearing to prove his innocence and to throw out his 2008 conviction. He said a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision wipes away the crime to which he insists he had no choice but to plead guilty.
In March 2008, Scruggs pleaded guilty to not reporting that he knew about a crime, which was an illegal conversation with the judge in a legal-fees lawsuit over Hurricane Katrina insurance cases. The government said the chat led to a scheme to deprive the public of Circuit Judge Henry Lackey’s “honest services.”
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the honest services law to pertain only to bribery and kickbacks, which Scruggs and others say is not what he pleaded guilty to.
In the new court filing, which will be posted electronically Thursday, he also accuses:
Read more: NEMS360.com – Zach Scruggs I am innocent of all charges
Aug. 18
