Feds challenge Zach Scruggs’ request
Their motion filed late Friday argues that the only people the court should subpoena for live testimony should be Scruggs’ four original co-defendants in the 2007 judicial bribery case that rocked Mississippi’s legal community.
Prosecutors ask Senior Judge Neal Biggers to order Sid Backstrom, Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, Steven Patterson and Timothy Balducci to appear for an April 25 hearing requested by Zach Scruggs to convince the court that his 2008 conviction and sentence should be thrown out.
Friday’s motion responds to Scruggs’ recent request to question under oath nearly a dozen people, who were key players in a judicial bribery case against him.
His “actual, factual innocence will be the only issue before the court,” says the response written by Robert Norman, assistant U.S. attorney, and one of the people Scruggs asked to question.
Sun Herald
3/13/11
