Texas Woman Convicted of Insurance Fraud Among Bush Pardons
Texas / South Central News • November 26, 2008
President George W. Bush has granted pardons to 14 individuals, including a Texas woman sentenced in 1998 for her part in an insurance fraud scheme.
Brenda Jean Dolenz-Helmer of Fort Worth, Texas, ...
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Subject: Pardon Dickie Scruggs / Zach Scruggs, Dickie Scruggs' son.
Posted On: November 30, 2008, 6:21 pm CST
Posted By: MICHAEL MILKEN - WHY NOT
Comment:
Jun. 26, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- OXFORD -- Hundreds of letters about attorney Dickie Scruggs and two other lawyers snared in a judicial bribery case portray exemplary lives ruined and families shattered.
Most of the 446 writers asked U.S. District Judge Neal B. Biggers Jr. to be lenient when he sentences Scruggs and attorney Sidney Backstrom on Friday for conspiring to bribe a Circuit Court judge. They also seek mercy for Scruggs' son, attorney Zach Scruggs, who is scheduled for sentencing July 2 for failure to report the felony.
Dickie Scruggs, an acknowledged master of public relations, solicited the letters from attorneys, friends and family members. He refers to many of them in a motion filed Wednesday that asks Biggers to sentence him to 30 months, rather than the maximum five years, in federal prison.
The letters detail acts of generosity, large and small, on 61-year-old Scruggs' part. They delve into his early career as a top fighter pilot in the Navy, his defense of the downtrodden and his bravery in tackling tobacco and asbestos companies to win settlements that changed countless lives.
Some of them even attempt to explain why a multimillionaire many times over would bribe a judge over a lawsuit that could have in the end cost him no more than $4 million of a $26.5 million fee State Farm paid policyholders' attorneys to settle Katrina cases.
"A moment of weakness," wrote Pascagoula attorney Charles J. Mikhail, the Mississippi Bar's disciplinary counsel for eight years.
Ken Tate, the Madisonville, La., architect for Scruggs' home in Oxford, wrote: "I have empathy for Dick Scruggs and those like him who fight the 'good fight' for the little guy. In some ways, they are like our soldiers on the 'front line.' After a while, the enormous responsibility and stress can lead to 'battle fatigue.'
Tate even added Scruggs did not gripe about the inevitable cost overruns on a custom home.
The millions he contributed to the University of Mississippi are public knowledge. Several members of the Ole Miss community, including Chancellor Robert Khayat, wrote letters of praise -- on university stationery, no less.
"It is my belief that any time he spends being incarcerated is an absolute waste of a great deal of talent and ability," Khayat wrote. "He has much to offer society and is a public-spirited person."
But many of Scruggs' acts of kindness have been anonymous. One letter after another praised him for the Katrina relief he brought to Pascagoula, where he practiced law before moving to Oxford around 2000 to set up shop with his son.
Rex Deloach of Oxford, a retired accountant, said Scruggs bought a 90-year-old widow's house for $200,000 because she was about to lose it to a real estate broker who would have paid her only $90,000. She needed the money for medical and living expenses.
Today she's 93 and still living in her home.
Not everyone pleaded for leniency.
Oxford attorney David B. Howorth was one of several who thought Scruggs should receive "the severest sentence possible."
He is concerned prominent members of the Mississippi Bar have minimized Scruggs' crime, and that Khayat and Ole Miss Law School Dean Samuel Davis have defended him.
Among those who did not write letters: Trent Lott, Scruggs' brother-in-law; former Attorney General Mike Moore, his partner in the victory over tobacco companies; and novelist John Grisham, who was incredulous over Scruggs' indictment and said at the time he just wasn't that dumb.
Drew Ranier, a Lake Charles attorney, eloquently summed up the sentiments of many: "He has admitted to a grievous error, but it is a marked aberration in a man whom I repeatedly saw do the right thing for many years. What he has given to all of us is unprecedented.
"The loss of his right to practice law will in itself be a profound and devastating punishment to this man who is one of the great lawyers of our time. Please judge him with leniency commensurate with the totality of the life that he has lived."
Former Gov. William Winter, Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat, former "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman and tobacco whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand were among those who wrote letters to a federal judge on behalf of attorney Dickie Scruggs. The letter tally: 248 for Scruggs, 127 for co-defendant Sid Backstrom and 71 for attorney Zach Scruggs, Dickie Scruggs' son.
Anita Lee
Subject: Pardon Dickie Scruggs / Zach Scruggs, Dickie Scruggs' son.
Most of the 446 writers asked U.S. District Judge Neal B. Biggers Jr. to be lenient when he sentences Scruggs and attorney Sidney Backstrom on Friday for conspiring to bribe a Circuit Court judge. They also seek mercy for Scruggs' son, attorney Zach Scruggs, who is scheduled for sentencing July 2 for failure to report the felony.
Dickie Scruggs, an acknowledged master of public relations, solicited the letters from attorneys, friends and family members. He refers to many of them in a motion filed Wednesday that asks Biggers to sentence him to 30 months, rather than the maximum five years, in federal prison.
The letters detail acts of generosity, large and small, on 61-year-old Scruggs' part. They delve into his early career as a top fighter pilot in the Navy, his defense of the downtrodden and his bravery in tackling tobacco and asbestos companies to win settlements that changed countless lives.
Some of them even attempt to explain why a multimillionaire many times over would bribe a judge over a lawsuit that could have in the end cost him no more than $4 million of a $26.5 million fee State Farm paid policyholders' attorneys to settle Katrina cases.
"A moment of weakness," wrote Pascagoula attorney Charles J. Mikhail, the Mississippi Bar's disciplinary counsel for eight years.
Ken Tate, the Madisonville, La., architect for Scruggs' home in Oxford, wrote: "I have empathy for Dick Scruggs and those like him who fight the 'good fight' for the little guy. In some ways, they are like our soldiers on the 'front line.' After a while, the enormous responsibility and stress can lead to 'battle fatigue.'
Tate even added Scruggs did not gripe about the inevitable cost overruns on a custom home.
The millions he contributed to the University of Mississippi are public knowledge. Several members of the Ole Miss community, including Chancellor Robert Khayat, wrote letters of praise -- on university stationery, no less.
"It is my belief that any time he spends being incarcerated is an absolute waste of a great deal of talent and ability," Khayat wrote. "He has much to offer society and is a public-spirited person."
But many of Scruggs' acts of kindness have been anonymous. One letter after another praised him for the Katrina relief he brought to Pascagoula, where he practiced law before moving to Oxford around 2000 to set up shop with his son.
Rex Deloach of Oxford, a retired accountant, said Scruggs bought a 90-year-old widow's house for $200,000 because she was about to lose it to a real estate broker who would have paid her only $90,000. She needed the money for medical and living expenses.
Today she's 93 and still living in her home.
Not everyone pleaded for leniency.
Oxford attorney David B. Howorth was one of several who thought Scruggs should receive "the severest sentence possible."
He is concerned prominent members of the Mississippi Bar have minimized Scruggs' crime, and that Khayat and Ole Miss Law School Dean Samuel Davis have defended him.
Among those who did not write letters: Trent Lott, Scruggs' brother-in-law; former Attorney General Mike Moore, his partner in the victory over tobacco companies; and novelist John Grisham, who was incredulous over Scruggs' indictment and said at the time he just wasn't that dumb.
Drew Ranier, a Lake Charles attorney, eloquently summed up the sentiments of many: "He has admitted to a grievous error, but it is a marked aberration in a man whom I repeatedly saw do the right thing for many years. What he has given to all of us is unprecedented.
"The loss of his right to practice law will in itself be a profound and devastating punishment to this man who is one of the great lawyers of our time. Please judge him with leniency commensurate with the totality of the life that he has lived."
Former Gov. William Winter, Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat, former "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman and tobacco whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand were among those who wrote letters to a federal judge on behalf of attorney Dickie Scruggs. The letter tally: 248 for Scruggs, 127 for co-defendant Sid Backstrom and 71 for attorney Zach Scruggs, Dickie Scruggs' son.
Anita Lee