New Grand Jury To Hear Second Scruggs Criminal Case

The action in the US v. Scruggs bribery case which sent Dickie Scruggs, Zach Scruggs and Sid Backstrom to prison is now at a lull pending the (not yet scheduled) sentencing of Tim Balducci and Steve Patterson. However, there’s still the matter of the case in which Joey Langston pleaded guilty in January to bribing Judge Bobby DeLaughter via former Hinds County DA Ed Peters on behalf of Scruggs to influence the Wilson v. Scruggs civil suit. A federal grand jury which will meet in Oxford beginning August 19 is scheduled to hear the case. Langston, Patterson and Balducci are expected to testify. All three met last week with officials from the DOJ’s Public Integrity Division.This case has the potential to reveal much broader patterns of corruption; a certain former US senator could have a Lott of anxiety come next week (Clarion Ledger).

Meanwhile, the now-suspended DeLaughter is under investigation in at least three other cases unrelated to Scruggs but involving Peters. C-L stories here and here discuss recent developments in two of them.