Scruggs, government differ on views for sentence

The Mississippi Daily Journal, 6/26/8

Richard “Dickie” Scruggs and the U.S. Probation Office have differences of opinion about how much prison time the Oxford attorney should get for conspiring to bribe a judge.

In legal papers filed Wednesday, Scruggs’ attorneys take 15 pages to outline his life and 17 more to explain why he should receive no more than 30 months in prison. Prosecutors recommended five years, when he pleaded guilty May 14.

Scruggs “respectfully requests a sentence at the low end” of the guidelines, or 30-37 months, his attorney John Keker writes. He cites the poor health of Scruggs’ wife, Diane, asking for a shorter sentence so that “he may return quickly to her side.”