Font Size: 
Judge in Scruggs Case Pleads Guilty to Obstruction of Justice
The Associated Press
July 31, 2009
Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal obstruction of justice charge, ending a respected legal career that had been sullied by scandal.
The plea deal avoids a trial, which had been set for Aug. 17. Prosecutors dropped charges of conspiracy and mail fraud.
Prosecutors recommended an 18-month sentence for the suspended Mississippi judge. He faces as much as 20 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson won't decide his sentence until a pre-sentence report is done in about five weeks. DeLaughter will remain free on bond until then.
DeLaughter became well-known in the 1990s after he helped prosecute Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 sniper shooting of Mississippi NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers. Actor Alec Baldwin portrayed DeLaughter in "Ghosts of Mississippi," a film based on the trial.
DeLaughter looked straight ahead with his hands clasped in front of him during the hearing. He didn't say anything, nor did he speak to reporters afterward. Some people in the courtroom cried after the plea and said, "It's a sad day."
"He made Mississippi civil rights history. I hope that's not lost on anybody," DeLaughter's attorney, Thomas Durkin, said afterward. "Even heroes make mistakes."
Gov. Haley Barbour will appoint someone to serve out the rest of DeLaughter's term, which ends Dec. 31, 2010. DeLaughter had previously resigned.
DeLaughter was accused of giving an unfair advantage to former attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs in a dispute over millions of dollars in fees from asbestos lawsuits.
Scruggs and William Roberts Wilson Jr., of Tuscaloosa, Ala., once worked together suing asbestos companies.
Wilson had claimed Scruggs cheated him out of money and used it to fund landmark anti-tobacco lawsuits in the 1990s, in which Scruggs reportedly earned as much as $848 million. Wilson sued for a share of the money.
Wilson's suit came before DeLaughter's court.
Charlie Merkle of Clarksdale, the attorney representing Wilson, said he hopes the case can now get back on track "immediately."
Prosecutors have said the promise of a federal judgeship drew DeLaughter into the scheme.
Scruggs and another attorney, Joey Langston, of Booneville, conscripted former Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters, one of DeLaughter's former bosses, to contact the judge. Peters told DeLaughter that Scruggs' brother-in-law, former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, would help him get appointed to the federal bench if he ruled in Scruggs' favor.
Lott was not charged in the case. The former U.S. senator called DeLaughter and several other people about an open seat on the federal bench, but recommended someone else for the job, his former chief of staff has said.
