The Next Battle in the Scruggs Case
With the trial not set to start for two months, an interesting question is whether Sidney Backstrom, another defendant from the Scruggs firm along with Zach Scruggs, Dickie’s son, will make a deal with prosecutors. The government will put as much pressure as it can on him to cooperate because to this point all the prosecutors have is testimony from people on the outside of the Scruggs firm — Balducci and his former partner, Steven Patterson, who entered a guilty plea recently. The key to the three defendants’ position is a united front in which they can claim ignorance of the alleged bribe and paint a picture of an overzealous judge who created the appearance of Scruggs’ involvement. Backstrom is the most likely person to plead guilty at this point simply because I can’t see Dickie Scruggs admitting to a crime — absent a “smoking gun” document — nor Zach Scruggs rolling over on his father. I am only speculating about this, but these types of corruption cases rely on the testimony of insiders, and Backstrom seems like the best candidate at this point. (ph)
White Collar Crime Blog
1/18/8
Magnolia Tribune
