In Case You Missed It:
Judge Involved in Scruggs Corruption Case Released
Informant said talking to Attorney General Jim Hood
“would be like speaking to Mr. Scruggs himself”
“Former Hinds judge released,” The Clarion-Ledger (Jerry Mitchell), 04/14/11
www.clarionledger.com/article/20110414/NEWS/104140344/Former-Hinds-judge-released
Former Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter is back home after 13 months in prison for lying to the FBI.
[…]
He pleaded guilty July 30, 2009, to obstruction of justice in a corruption investigation involving multimillionaire and former lawyer Dickie Scruggs and received an 18-month sentence.
[…]
DeLaughter admitted lying to an FBI agent during the investigation, saying he had two conversations with his former boss, ex-longtime Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters, about a pending lawsuit, Wilson v. Scruggs. Prosecutors said DeLaughter actually had dozens of conversations about the lawsuit with Peters, who was hired by Scruggs’ legal team.
[…]
Former New Albany lawyer Timothy Balducci, a former associate of Scruggs, alleged DeLaughter was bribed by being told he would be considered for a federal judgeship. DeLaughter denied taking a bribe and was never prosecuted for doing so.
Richard “Dickie” Scruggs pled guilty in March 2008 to conspiring to bribe a federal judge.
The aforementioned Scruggs associate, Timothy Balducci, had attempted to influence Judge Henry Lackey and made a “grossly improper, possibly even criminal” overture.
Judge Lackey “felt that he couldn’t take the matter to the attorney general, Jim Hood,” because “[t]hat would be like speaking to Mr. Scruggs himself.”
“The Bribe,” The New Yorker (Peter J. Boyer), 05/19/08 – www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/19/080519fa_fact_boyer?currentPage=all
MSGOP Press Release
4/14/11
Magnolia Tribune
