By far the most interesting reading in the exhibits filed with Zach Scruggs’s motion, at least from the standpoint of news, are three exhibits that are affidavits filed in the state bar proceeding in which Zach Scruggs filed a bar complaint against Tony Farese.
Recall that Zach hired Tony at the time of his arraignment for the charges in Scruggs I. As it turns out, that hire was at Joey Langston’s recommendation; Langston had been hired as local counsel for Dickie Scruggs.
This turned odd a couple of weeks later when federal agents searched Joey Langston’s office. Tony Farese turned up at the search and said to local media he was representing Joey Langston. A month later, Langston secretly plead guilty and became a Government witness against Dickie Scruggs.
There are four affidavits: One each from AUSAs David Sanders (who is now a Magistrate Judge) and Robert Norman, and an affidavit from Joey Langston. They make fascinating reading, and are designed to rebut any inference that Farese had a conflict of interest in representing both Langston and Zach Scruggs; the reasoning is that Langston never said a word that suggested that Zach Scruggs was involved in Wilson, the case involving DeLaughter and Ed Peters that became the basis for Scruggs II.
What’s interesting is the meetings that these affidavits add to the chronology, giving us a background (and sworn-to) account of the plea negotations between Langston and the Government.
Both Sanders and Norman’s affidavits focus on meetings with Langston and Farese at the time of the search of Langston’s office and then in early January as Langston decided to plea. Sanders refers in passing to Tom Dawson’s book with Alan Lange as a “novel.” Interesting details include Bob Norman’s account of a meeting on December 10th, which had the purpose of warning Joey Langston that if anything happened to Tim Balducci or his family, they were going to look at Joey Langston, first:
In my mind, the main purpose of the meeting on 10 December 2007 was to warn Joey Langston that no harm had better come to Timothy R. Balducci or his family It was not that we had any expectation that Langston would personally harm anyone, but from his former representation of many violent criminals in the Prentiss County, Mississippi area we knew that he had some very dangerous people who were indebtted to him and other very dangerous individuals who would like to have him indebted to them. We wanted the word to quickly filter down that Joey Langston and his associates would be our first and primary suspects in the event any harm came to Balducci or his family. Joey Langston assured us that he would make sure that did not happen.
The affidavits spell out the pressure placed on Langston to make a quick decision about whether to plea, including a threat that the case would be taken over by the Justice Department’s public integrity division. They provide one detail I’d wondered about: A key meeting broke up the day before Langston plead, so he could go talk to his wife and brother about whether to plea, and Farese could got meet with Zach– and get him to sign a waiver of the representation of Langston. I’ve always kind of wondered exactly what disclosures may have been made at that meeting…
In any event, these three affidavits are followed by another document of interest, and excerpt from the deposition of Tim Balducci in the Eaton case, in which Balducci states that as far as he is aware, Zach Scruggs did not know about the attempt to improperly influence Judge DeLaughter.
Here they are.
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