Mississippi Bar Asks Supreme Court to Pull Scruggs’s Law License

March 20, 2008

The Mississippi State Bar has filed a petition to disbar Oxford attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs.

The petition was filed Tuesday with the Mississippi Supreme Court, which decides such matters.

A similar petition was filed against Sidney A. Backstrom, Scruggs’ law partner.

Scruggs, 61, and Backstrom, 38, each pleaded guilty this past week in U.S. District Court in Oxford to one count of conspiring to bribe a state judge. Other counts were dropped.

The bar previously filed petitions with the Supreme Court to disbar two other attorneys, Joey Langston of Booneville and Timothy Balducci of New Albany. They have not opposed disbarment.

Scruggs, Backstrom and Balducci admitted conspiring to offer Circuit Judge Henry L. Lackey $50,000 for an order Scruggs wanted the judge to issue in a dispute with another law firm over $26.5 million in legal fees from Hurricane Katrina cases.

Langston admitted conspiring to bribe Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter on Scruggs’ behalf. The case is under investigation.

Scruggs’ son, Zach, also indicted in the case, is scheduled for trial in Oxford on March 31.

Topics Mississippi

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