Ethics Commission Recommends Suspension for Miss. Judge Tied to Scruggs
Mississippi’s Commission on Judicial Performance has recommended an interim suspension for a trial judge under investigation in connection with plaintiffs lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs.
The commission is investigating allegations that a Scruggs associate promised Judge Bobby DeLaughter that he would be considered for a federal judgeship at the same time the judge was considering a fee dispute involving Scruggs, the Clarion Ledger reports. The commission says DeLaughter failed to recuse himself and failed to notify the proper authorities about the alleged offer.
In January, Mississippi lawyer Joey Langston pleaded guilty to charges that Scruggs gave him $3 million in a scheme to get DeLaughter to rule in his favor. Langston said he split the money with former state auditor Steve Patterson and former District Attorney Ed Peters, who was at one time a mentor to DeLaughter.
The commission claims Peters acted as a conduit in the fee case to pass along “certain information and proposed draft orders” to DeLaughter. On at least one occasion DeLaughter shared a rough draft of an opinion with Peters, “thus allowing those representing Scruggs to review the opinion before the same was entered,” the commission alleges.
Another Scruggs associate, Timothy Balducci, has alleged Scruggs followed through on the judgeship offer by speaking to his brother-in-law, then-U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.
Lott’s former chief of staff, Brett Boyles, previously said Lott placed a courtesy call to DeLaughter about the judicial vacancy, but it was one of many he made, and Lott did not recommend him.
DeLaughter’s ruling in the fee dispute mostly favored Scruggs, but he has said he followed the law and didn’t take a bribe.
Scruggs recently pleaded guilty in a separate case to charges that he conspired to bribe a different judge considering a fee dispute in Hurricane Katrina litigation. That judge reported the bribe offer and helped in the investigation. Balducci also pleaded guilty in the case.
