The Fall of the House of Zeus (61 page)

28
Zach Scruggs …
Email from Zach Scruggs to Jones, May 29, 2006.

29
Jones replied …
Email from Jones to Zach Scruggs, May 30, 2006.

30
By this time …
Interview with Dick Scruggs.

31
Besides, he …
Interview with Diane Scruggs.

32
Even as he implicated …
Affidavit for search warrant for Langston Law Firm, filed by FBI agent John Quaka before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills, Northern District of Mississippi, December 9, 2007.

33
Lott’s call …
Interview with Dick Scruggs.

34
Still, there …
Interview with Charles Merkel.

35
Balducci …
Interview with Tom Dawson.

36
On a dreary Saturday …
Interview with Langston.

37
(The government …
Information charging Langston with one count of
violation of Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 371, filed by U.S. attorney Jim
Greenlee in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, Jan. 7, 2008.

38
Against this backdrop …
Interview with Langston.

39
Instead of protecting …
Interview with Dawson.

40
At one point …
Interview with confidential sources.

41
Peters seemed relieved …
Interview with Dawson, confidential sources.

42
Patterson, who …
Deposition given by Patterson.

43
Throughout December …
Interview with Langston.

44
On the flight …
Interview with Quin.

45
Back home …
Interviews with Langston, Zach Scruggs.

46
While Langston …
Interviews with Langston, Dawson.

47
All that …
“Mid-South Super Lawyers 2007,” advertising supplement to
The New York Times
, autumn 2007.

48
Langston drove …
Interview with Langston.

49
The prosecutors …
Interview with Dawson.

1
Joey Langston’s …
Transcript of Waiver of Indictment/Filing of Information, Plea of Guilty to Count One of the Information, Hearing before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills, U.S. District Court, Northern District of
Mississippi, Jan. 7, 2008; interviews with confidential sources.

2
Langston’s associate …
Interview with Billy Quin.

3
Langston’s plea …
Interview with Zach Scruggs.

4
Farese would insist …
Personal and confidential letter from Anthony L. Farese to Zach Scruggs, Jan. 9, 2008.

5
Farese, Farese …
Website of Farese, Farese and Farese law firm.

6
When students …
Interviews with confidential sources.

7
Just months …
“Mary Winkler Gets a Week in Prison, 60 Days in Mental Health Facility,” Clay Bailey,
Commercial Appeal
, June 8, 2007.

8
After learning …
Interview with Zach Scruggs.

9
Instead, he called …
Interview with Mike Moore.

10
During the ordeal …
Interview with Zach Scruggs.

11
Farese protested …
Letter from Farese to Zach Scruggs; exchange of communications between Curtis Wilkie and Tony Farese: Memo from Wilkie to Farese, July 28, 2009; Farese letter to Wilkie, July 30, 2009; email from Cal Mayo to Farese authorizing Farese “to provide truthful responses to Curtis Wilkie’s questions about the subject matter areas identified in his memo of July 28,” Aug. 12, 2009; letter from Farese to Wilkie, Aug. 17, 2009; email from Farese to Wilkie, Aug. 20, 2009; interview with Farese.

12
They settled …
Interviews with Zach Scruggs, confidential sources.

13
Zach remained …
Undated ten-page document detailing Zach Scruggs’s account of “my dealings with my former attorney Tony Farese …”

1
The morning …
Interview with Tom Dawson.

2
The investigators …
Interviews with confidential sources.

3
At the meeting …
Interview with Dawson.

4
In the councils …
Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs, Sid Backstrom.

5
Zach hired …
“The Scales of Justice,” Murray Waas,
National Journal
, May 31, 2007.

6
Steve Patterson …
Interviews with confidential sources.

7
Appearing before …
Transcript of hearing on Change of Plea to Count One of the Indictment Before U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers, U.S. District Court, Northern District, Jan. 15, 2008.

8
In testimony …
Deposition given by Patterson, June 18, 2009.

9
With Patterson’s plea …
Interview with Dick Scruggs.

10
In the thirty …
John W. Keker, Lawyer Profile,
Martindale.com
; “The Man Who Will Prosecute Oliver North; John W. Keker, Ready for the Courtroom Showdown,”
Washington Post
, Jan. 31, 1989; “High Profile Corporate Defendants Turn to Keker,” Edward Iwata,
USA Today
, Feb. 3, 2004; “Help, I’m in Legal Trouble. Get Me John Keker,”
Northern California Super Lawyers 2005
; “Barry Bonds Begins Assembling Legal Dream Team; Eyes Famed Attorney Keker,” Christian Red, Michael O’Keefe, and Teri Thompson,
New York Daily News
, Nov. 29, 2007.

11
In a lengthy motion …
Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss the Indictment for Outrageous Government Conduct with Combined Memorandum of Law, filed in U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, Feb. 11, 2008.

12
The case had been …
Interviews with confidential sources.

13
Balducci said …
Transcipt of hearing on Defendants’ Motion Before U.S. District Judge Biggers, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, Feb. 20, 2008.

14
Watching from …
Interview with Zach Scruggs.

15
Balducci recounted …
Transcript of hearing, Feb. 20, 2008.

16
It was Backstrom’s …
Interview with Backstrom.

17
“I advised …
Transcript of hearing, Feb. 20, 2008.

18
One involved …
Confidential Human Source (CHS) Reporting Document of the FBI giving Tim Balducci’s account of bribe to Judge Lackey, Nov. 2, 2007.

19
In a later 302 …
Confidential Human Source (CHS) Reporting
Document of the FBI giving Balducci’s explanation of previous interview, Nov. 14, 2007.

20
Keker approached …
Transcript of hearing, Feb. 20, 2008.

21
Scruggs and the others …
Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs.

22
Keker made …
Transcript of hearing, Feb. 20, 2008.

1
Disheartened by the setbacks …
Interviews with Edward “Chip”
Robertson, Mike Moore, Frank Trapp.

2
Faced with the unhappy …
Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs, Sid Backstrom, confidential sources.

3
Scruggs had hired …
Confidential memo to David Fechheimer, Feb. 6, 2008.

4
Scruggs was tormented …
Interview with Robertson.

5
Scruggs’s sleep …
Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Diane Scruggs.

6
Scruggs’s decision …
Interviews with Tom Dawson, John Keker, Jim Greenlee.

7
After the Shreveport …
Interview with Backstrom.

8
“He’s in a posture …
Telephone conversation between Tim Balducci and Backstrom, recorded by the FBI, Nov. 13, 2007.

9
Scruggs broke …
Interview with Diane Scruggs.

10
Zach was meeting …
Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore, Keker.

11
Elsewhere …
Interview with Trapp.

12
Scruggs had wanted …
Interview with Dick Scruggs, Moore.

13
To Zach …
Interview with Zach Scruggs; conversation between
Balducci and Backstrom, recorded by the FBI, Nov. 1, 2007; invoice from
Balducci, Oct. 18, 2007.

14
Keker reported …
Interview with Tom Dawson.

15
By Thursday night …
Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore.

16
On Friday morning …
Interview with Zach Scruggs.

17
Bruce Newman …
Conversation with Bruce Newman.

18
Diane had always …
Interview with Diane Scruggs.

19
There had been …
Interview with Jere Hoar.

20
Backstrom’s day …
Interview with Backstrom, Trapp, confidential sources.

21
With new resolve …
Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore, Dawson, Keker.

22
Despite his father’s …
Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore.

23
“
Greenlee wouldn’t …
Interview with Dawson.

24
Zach told Moore …
Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Moore, Dawson, confidential sources.

25
It sounded …
Interview with Moore.

26
No one …
Interviews with confidential sources.

27
Moore worried …
Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Zach Scruggs, Moore.

28
“Do you want …
Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Diane Scruggs.

29
Three days later …
Transcript of hearing on Change of Plea to Count One of the Information in Connection with
U.S.A. v. David Zachary Scruggs
, before U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, March 21, 2008.

30
Throughout the negotiations …
Interview with Zach Scruggs.

31
Biggers informed …
Transcript of hearing in U.S. District Court, March 21, 2008.

1
In commentary …
“Consider Judge Lackey,” Lydia Quarles,
Clarion-Ledger
, Feb. 3, 2008.

2
The Mississippi Supreme …
“Judge Henry Lackey to receive Chief Justice Award,” press release by Mississippi State Supreme Court, July 11, 2008; “Judge Lackey Honored by Mississippi Bar,” Alyssa Schnugg,
Oxford Eagle
,
July 1, 2008.

3
In interviews …
Oxford Eagle
article, July 1, 2008.

4
The case …
Transcript of hearing before circuit judge William
Coleman, Circuit Court of Lafayette County, in connection with
Jones, Funderburg v. Scruggs
, April 15, 2008.

5
As a regional …
Interviews with confidential sources.

6
Mayo found himself …
Interview with Cal Mayo.

7
Mayo …
Transcript of hearing, April 15–16, 2008.

8
Moore, sitting …
Interview with Mike Moore.

9
Reached later …
“Hood Denies Scruggs Threatened to Fund Opponent,” Alyssa Schnugg,
Oxford Eagle
, April 17, 2008.

10
Throughout the spring …
Interviews with Dick Scruggs, Diane Scruggs, Rex Deloach, confidential sources.

11
The day after …
Interview with Sam Davis.

12
At one faculty …
Interview with John Robin Bradley.

13
Backstrom …
Undated email from Sid Backstrom to friends and neighbors.

14
Zach’s Sigma Nu …
Interviews with confidential sources.

15
Dick Scruggs’s case …
Letters of support on file with U.S. District Court in Oxford; letter from William F. Winter to Judge Biggers, April 14, 2008; letter from Michael Mann to Judge Biggers, May 13, 2008; letter from Chancellor Robert Khayat to Judge Biggers, April 30, 2008.

16
Learning of Khayat’s …
Conversation with Grady Tollison; interviews with confidential sources.

1
John Hailman …
Interview with John Hailman.

2
Biggers said …
Transcript of sentencing of Richard Scruggs, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, June 27, 2008.

3
At that moment …
Interview with confidential source.

4
“As you know …
Transcript of
Shields v. University of Mississippi
before circuit judge Henry L. Lackey, Circuit Court of Lafayette County, Mississippi, June 27, 2008.

5
Following his father’s …
Interview with Zach Scruggs.

6
The festive group …
Interviews with confidential sources.

7
After learning …
Conversation with John Currence.

8
At two o’clock …
Transcript of sentencing of Sidney Backstrom, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, June 27, 2008.

9
By the morning …
Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Mike Moore.

10
Zach’s formal …
Transcript of sentencing of David Zachary Scruggs, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Mississippi, July 2, 2008.

11
He was approached …
Interviews with Zach Scruggs, Tom Dawson.

12
He was not …
Interview with Jim Greenlee.

1
“Convicted trial …
Campaign brochure in support of Roger Wicker by Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, 2008.