Thoughts on the DeLaughter Guilty Plea
In my last post I talked about how bad it looked for Judge Bobby DeLaughter in his upcoming criminal trial. I was not alone in this assessment andtoday's announcement that DeLaughter will enter a guilty plea to lying to the FBI is not surprising. In fact, it would have been shocking if DeLaughter had not pleaded guilty given the lineup of former lawyers who were lined up to admit that they bribed DeLaughter.
DeLaughter's downfall is, in my mind, the worst part of the entire judicial bribery scandal. The trials of Whitfield and Teel were arguably political and everyone involved always denied any impropriety. But in the DeLaughter case everyone involved except for Trent Lott has admitted to wrongdoing. Before this mess started there were many lawyers who held DeLaughter in high esteem. I respected DeLaughter and have previously mentioned the fact that I thought his book Never Too Later was well done. I was not enamored with DeLaughter on the bench because I thought he was too unpredictable. That perception now casts a cloud over his entire judgeship. Many lawyers who lost on a questionable ruling by DeLaughter will wonder if there was any behind the scenes impropriety. At a minimum, DeLaughter's judgment, the very foundation of a judge, now appears flawed.
If DeLaughter wants to truly make amends he should publicly come clean on any and all impropriety involving he and Ed Peters. It's hard to believe that DeLaughter and Peters got caught on the only case that they ever improperly conspired on. And while I am sure that DeLaughter still maintains that he didn't conspire with Peters in Scruggs v. Wilson, it is clear that at a minimum he allowed himself to be controlled by Peters. DeLaughter should publicly disclose every case that he and Peters discussed while DeLaughter was a judge. The files of those cases should be examined for any unusual rulings.
The judicial bribery scandal has been a huge black eye for the Mississippi judicial system including the lawyers and judges in that system. If DeLaughter's plea brings the scandal to a close neither the public nor the legal community will believe that all the bad actors and illegal conduct has been exposed. So far the only person to publicly come clean is Tim Balducci and that is only because someone obtained a copy of his deposition in the Eaton v. Frisby case that was supposed to be sealed. We hear that all the lawyers in jail and Peters (who should be in jail) are cooperating with the government. But that does little to restore the public's faith in the judicial system because the government does not publicly disclose its investigation, which proceeds at a glacial pace. We need depositions or similar mechanisms to force all the principals in the Lackey and DeLaughter bribery scandals to publicly disclose everything that they know. If there are other lawyers or judges who committed illegal conduct, then they should be exposed, prosecuted and disbarred. We do not need this thing ending without knowing whether this was the tip of the iceberg or the whole iceberg.
And I'm not going to sit here and listen to you bad mouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!
balducci came clean long before his dep was leaked. say what you want, balducci was a very competent, very able attorney. witty, smart and completely comfortable in a courtroom.head and shoulders above those he worked with. i have seen him in action. joey was prone to read his closings word-for-word from a notebook and quote philosophers no one ever heard of, and genuinely look like a pompus ass. tim's quote that if u ever wanted to hide something from joey was to put it it in a law book in the library was spot on. joey was way too busy getting his nails polished, hair died and getting facials to worry about details. in the end only money counted to joey and hell that's easy if u grease the right wheels.
and of course scruggs never tried a case.
i write this only to set the record straight.balducci et al. has cost me and a lot of other laywers a lot of money. he is no friend of mine. he is in prison and deserves to be.
but make no mistake - when confronted by the fbi he did something truly, truly amazing. the fbi confronted him with the evidence. he didnt ask for a lawyer, he didnt break down. he didnt cry to mama. he didnt ask for delay. in an instant he saw life, as is was, gone. and he accepted it, admitted it and said what can i do to help. and he was told by the fbi to go nail down scruggs. and he did it the same day that he lost his life in a manner worthy of an oscar. walked in wearing a wire. and pulled it off flawlessly knowing full well he had no final deal with the government but that his life - work, family, friends, license, jail - was over. and he pulled if off without a flinch.balducci comitted crimes that tarnish the leagal world and will for years to come.but for all he cost me and others i admire his efforts to write wrongs. given a chance i would gladly buy him a beer. i am fallible. there are lessons to be learned.