Legal Ethics
Scruggs’ Son Pleads in Judicial Bribe Case
Posted Mar 21, 2008, 12:30 pm CDT
By Martha Neil
Zach Scruggs, the son and law partner of famed Mississippi plaintiffs attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge in a judicial bribery case that also brought down his father.
The junior Scruggs pleaded guilty in federal court today to misprision of a felony because he was aware of and didn't reveal a conspiracy to bribe a Mississippi judge for a favorable ruling in a case seeking $26.5 million in attorney fees, according to the Biloxi Sun Herald and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. The prosecution is recommending probation, rather than a prison sentence (a maximum of three years would be possible), but he is expected to lose his law license because of his guilty plea to a felony.
As discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post, the senior Scruggs and another co-defendant law partner pleaded guilty last week to conspiring to bribe an elected official, and are expected to receive sentences of five years and two-and-a-half years in prison, respectively. Additional details about their pleas are provided in a Clarion-Ledger article.
The Wall Street Journal provides links to the plea agreement (PDF) and the criminal information (PDF) in the Zach Scruggs case. The Sun Herald also provides a link to the transcript (PDF) of today's court hearing.
Next month's issue of the ABA Journal, which went to press before his plea, profiles Richard Scruggs and his famed career as a plaintiffs lawyer.
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