Steven A. Patterson pleaded guilty this morning at the U.S. District Court in Oxford for his role in an attempt to bribe a judge in a case against prominent trial attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs.
Patterson pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to bribe an elected official, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, in front of Senior Judge Neal B. Biggers Jr.
“I stand here a blessed man,” Patterson told the judge. “My family, church and the community have stood by me.”
Patterson said he never started out with the intentions of bribing a judge.
“My attorneys, and the government’s attorneys have explained to me that at the point I joined, I was at that point, a co-conspirator.”
Oxford Eagle
1/15/8