Convoluted web of maneuverings evolving in bribery trial

The Sun Herald  |  January 21, 2008

 By Anita Lee

 OXFORD, Jan. 20, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --

Grady Tollison's employees watched from his law firm balcony as FBI agents descended on Oxford's courthouse square during the Christmas holidays.

 They called to Tollison, who in his 35 years of law practice had never witnessed such a sight in this rural Mississippi hamlet. Unbelievably, the agents carted box after box from the law office of Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, one of Tollison's professional neighbors on the square, whose century-old buildings are populated by ground-floor boutiques, bookstores and eateries.

 That night, Tollison's surprise turned to incredulity when he learned the federal government had raided Scruggs' office over a lawsuit that pitted the two attorneys against each other. Tollison's client wanted the case to go to trial, Scruggs was arguing for arbitration. Scruggs and four others were charged the following day with conspiring to bribe the judge in the case.

 Tollison, a former president of the Mississippi Bar Association, wondered to himself, "Why would anyone try to bribe a judge for an arbitration order?"

 But that wasn't the worst of it. Even as Scruggs' formidable defense team digested the FBI's wiretaps and taped telephone conversations about the alleged $40,000 bribe, the government unleashed more disturbing revelations. New Albany attorney Joey Langston admitted paying a former Hinds County prosecutor $1 million as an intermediary to bribe yet another judge while Langston represented Scruggs in yet another dispute with colleagues over how to divide the spoils of profitable litigation.

 "I'm embarrassed and ashamed," Langston told the chief federal judge for north Mississippi when he entered the guilty plea Jan. 7, according to a transcript unsealed last week.

 "Yeah," responded the judge, Michael Mills.

 "And I should be," Langston said.

"You've earned it," Mills agreed.

 "Yes sir," Langston said, "I have." Langston, at 50 one of the state's best-known litigators, said he would resign from his firm and surrender his law license.

 Langston and another of Scruggs' associates, former State Auditor Steve Patterson, have promised to reveal all they know to FBI agents and U.S. prosecutors working on the cases. Patterson was involved in both bribery conspiracies, records in the cases show.

 Patterson pleaded guilty to conspiring with Scruggs and others to bribe Circuit Judge Henry L. Lackey in Jones v. Scruggs, the north Mississippi case that led to the FBI search of the Scruggs Law Firm. In exchange, prosecutors did not charge Patterson in the Jackson case involving Langston and have agreed neither man will be prosecuted for other crimes they reveal. They could each receive up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the crimes they did admit.

 With Langston and Patterson cooperating, legal watchers are unwilling to guess where the investigation could lead. Scruggs and Patterson in particular have political connections that stretch to Washington. Langston has earned millions through a professional relationship with Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood, whose mentor and predecessor, Mike Moore, began the trend by teaming up with Scruggs and other private attorneys on asbestos and tobacco cases.

 A man who remains somewhat of a mystery, former Delta farmer P.L. Blake, is also part of the mix. The Scruggs team earned around $1 billion suing tobacco companies, and although Scruggs has fought sharing his fees in this and other cases with some attorneys, he had no qualms about agreeing to pay Blake $50 million over 20 years for work that led to a multistate settlement of tobacco litigation.

 Litigation against Big Tobacco in the mid to late 90s was a legal and political minefield. Scruggs and Moore have said Blake had an inside track on the politics. Blake has explained he simply clipped newspaper articles, watched C-SPAN and tried to gauge the political winds for Scruggs.

 Patterson's attorney, Hiram Eastland Jr., 57, said as a young boy he frequently encountered the older Blake on the Eastland plantation in Doddsville. Eastland described Blake as a quiet and gentlemanly fellow, always with a crisp crease in his khakis.

 Former Gov. J.P. Coleman thought of Blake as a son, Eastland said. Eastland's father, Hiram "Chester" Sr., and Chester Eastland's first cousin, powerful U.S. Sen. James O. Eastland, were friends to Blake. Young Hiram Jr. said his father and the senator didn't drink coffee, but kept a pot brewing on the plantation for Blake's visits.

 Blake also happens to be close friends not only with Scruggs, but with Steve Patterson, a fellow horse-breeding enthusiast. Scruggs and Patterson trust Blake implicitly, court records show.

 In both bribery cases, prosecutors allege intermediaries for Scruggs dealt with the payoffs to judges. Scruggs has not been charged in the Jackson case.

 Patterson had entered a promising professional relationship with a young New Albany attorney named Timothy Balducci, who happened to be close to Lackey.

 Prosecutors allege Scruggs thought he could use Balducci to influence Lackey in the legal-fee dispute. Scruggs denies any wrongdoing. Scruggs' associates have portrayed Balducci, the first to plead guilty in the bribery conspiracy, as so eager to please he took the initiative to bribe Lackey. Lackey, whose suspicions Balducci aroused in March, alerted investigators.

 One attorney associated with the case compared Balducci to an eager pup who peed on the Oriental rug.

 Lackey agreed to wear a wire and, while the conversation was being recorded, said he would take $40,000 in exchange for a court order to Scruggs' liking.

 U.S. prosecutor Bob Norman detailed during Patterson's plea hearing allegations Patterson admits and the government says it could prove against him at trial. On Sept. 27, Balducci paid Lackey the first $20,000 installment on the bribe. Balducci and Patterson expected Scruggs to repay them.

 In a taped telephone conversation, Balducci asked Patterson a day later to call P.L. Blake about the money. Patterson made the call, then called Balducci back to report on the conversation with Blake.

 "P.L. had in fact met with Dick Scruggs, and 'he' knows it's going to be '40'," Norman said. "Patterson assured Balducci that P.L. was confident that Scruggs would take care of Patterson and Balducci."

 In the other legal-fee dispute involving Scruggs and attorney William Roberts Wilson, the enticement for Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter was a lifetime appointment to the federal bench. The intermediaries were Langston, Balducci and Patterson, who paid former Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters $50,000, then another $950,000 to influence his old friend, Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter. DeLaughter had followed Peters into the District Attorney's Office, prosecuting the killer of Medgar Evers before he ascended to the state court bench.

 In addition to his wealth, Scruggs used his family connections to sway DeLaughter, prosecutors say. Scruggs is the brother-in-law of former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, who says his resignation, the day before Scruggs was indicted, is coincidence.

 "Scruggs told Langston to let the judge know that if he ruled in his favor, he would pass his name along for consideration regarding the federal judgeship," prosecutor Dawson said during Langston's plea hearing.

 A Lott aide has told The Associated Press that Lott gave DeLaughter the courtesy of a telephone call, but did not recommend him for the open appointment, since filled.

 Sen. Thad Cochran's office told the Sun Herald that DeLaughter's name was one of those mentioned for the appointment, but would not say which candidates Lott and Cochran privately discussed to recommend to President Bush. The office said Cochran wants to respect the privacy of candidates for the position.

 Like Tollison in Oxford, attorney Vicki Slater in Jackson is monitoring the judicial bribery investigation. Her client was opposing Scruggs in the case before DeLaughter. She hesitates to refer to the final orders in the case as DeLaughter's. Government evidence indicates DeLaughter e-mailed at least one order to Peters so he could pass it along for pre-approval from Scruggs' attorneys.

 DeLaughter denies any wrongdoing, but Slater says opinions that preceded his in the case indicate her client was entitled to $15 million to $17 million in asbestos fees, plus other costs and any damages a jury would award. Those opinions came from a special master on the case and a federal judge.

 As a result of the orders signed by DeLaughter in 2006, her client was in the end forced to settle before trial for much less money. Still, she said, she never dreamed a bribery scheme could be to blame.

 "I really didn't have a clue that anything like this was going on," Slater said Friday, after a week of devastating revelations. "I'm heartbroken. It appears that my client was robbed of his fair day in court."

 "We're looking at all possible remedies."

 Newstex ID: KRTB-0021-22407828