Hearing today in Zach Scruggs’ appeal

Hearing today in Zach Scruggs’ appeal
Former Mississippi attorney Zach Scruggs is asking the federal appeals court in New Orleans to overturn his 2008 guilty plea in a judicial bribery case that also involved his father.

Scruggs’ attorney and prosecutors will each have 30 minutes Monday before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal.

He spent 14 months in prison, lost his law license and paid a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to misprision of a felony – failing to report knowledge that a colleague had spoken illegally to a judge.

Scruggs says he knew nothing about a scheme to bribe the judge who presided over a legal-fees lawsuit against his father, imprisoned attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, and others.

AP
7/9/12