Zach Scruggs' Sentencing Upcoming Today
Zach Scruggs will be sentenced today at 10:00 a.m. before Judge Biggers. Recall that when this case was first indicted, Zach Scruggs was the number two guy on the indictment, which generally signals the government’s belief that he was number two in culpability. However, just prior to trial, the government dismissed the indictment, and let Zach plead guilty to misprision of a felony – basically taking steps to conceal his knowledge of and the existence of a felony.
The plea agreement for Zach is a rare breed in federal court – a plea where the government recommends a probated sentence. However, that recommendation is not binding on the court.
The thing that is surprising here as I’ve said before in these posts is the defendant’s lack of candor and acceptance of responsibility in entering his plea. I know plenty of judges who would reject Zach’s plea for failing to acknowledge his guilt because here is what Zach said at his guilty plea:
“I ' d like to start out by telling the Court, and the public, that I had no knowledge that Tim Balducci bribed Judge Lackey in connection with this arbitration order. I didn' t conspire to bribe Judge Lackey in connection with an arbitration order, and I would have stopped it had I known. However, I did have some knowledge that Tim Balducci had a close personal relationship with Judge Lackey, and that he used that personal relationship to have improper ex parte contacts with the judge regarding the order.”
These words ring hollow to me, and I think, Zach loses yardage before his sentencing judge by minimizing his conduct.
Zach’s attorneys filed a sentencing memo today that does a good job of fleshing out the factors that distinguish Zach’s case from that of his former co-defendants. In the sentencing memo, his counsel argues that Zach admitted to “misprision of a felony; that is, he failed to alert authorities and the firm’s registered counsel that Tim Balducci was attempting to personally and improperly influence Judge Lackey through the benefit of his personal relationship with the judge.” Can anyone help me out here - who was this "registered counsel" for the Scruggs firm?
Apparently, the probation office disagreed with the government’s assessment of Zach’s culpability because Zach’s attorneys spend most of the sentencing memo pointing out the factual and legal distinctions in Zach’s plea. They persuasively argue that the government has taken a tiered approach to sentencing with Zach’s conduct being at the low end of that tier. It will be interesting to see how Judge Biggers reacts to the government’s view of Zach’s case and whether he will accept the government’s recommendation of a probated sentence.
Candidly, based on Judge Biggers’ earlier comments regarding this case, I can’t see him deciding that a probated sentence is an appropriate disposition for a case that involves judicial bribery where the underlying case was a dispute involving over twenty million dollars. Zach's going to have a bad day in court and it will be a sad epilogue to his legal career.
