UPDATE:Backstrom asks court to reconsider release of letters
Attorney Sidney Backstrom wants the federal judge who will sentence him Friday to reconsider showing pre-sentencing letters to the media.
The letters, generally from close friends and professional associates, ask the judge for leniency and offer reasons for their requests.
An attorney for Backstrom, who admitted in May that he conspired to bribe Judge Henry Lackey, writes in a Friday motion that numerous other U.S. district courts have ruled that the letters are treated as confidential like a pre-sentence report.
“While the letters are issue in this case are not from the accused,” writes Jackson attorney Frank Trapp, “many, if not all, are of a confidential nature, intended by the writer to be confidential by their text.”
He also notes that Biggers issue his OK on media access to the letters Friday, before Backstrom could respond.
Daily Journal
6/23/8
Magnolia Tribune
