Transcript: Dickie Scruggs sentencing transcript (text version)

The following transcript was obtained by the Sun Herald: (CALL TO ORDER OF THE COURT)

JUDGE NEAL B. BIGGERS : Gentlemen, I assume that both sides are ready to proceed in this matter of U . S . v . Scruggs. Are you ready, Mr. Keker?

JOHN KEKER (Scruggs’ attorney): Yes, Your Honor.

JUDGE NEAL B. BIGGERS : All right. Mr. Dawson?

THOMAS DAWSON (U.S. Attorney): We are, Your Honor.

JUDGE NEAL B. BIGGERS : Very well. The first thing I am going to do is to get these sentencing guidelines out of the way. And, of course, the defendants have filed a memorandum, a memorandum objecting to some parts of the presentencing report. And the Government has responded to those objections.

I 've read them all. The memorandum and briefing is very thorough. The points of law and objections to some of the factual allegations are there. I ' m prepared to rule on those objections without any oral argument. If you wish to have any oral argument, Mr. Keker, I 'll give you a little time to talk about it.

JOHN KEKER : Your Honor, we're prepared to have you rule. I think we've briefed them, as you say, thoroughly. But I wanted to thank the probation office for their courtesy and consideration. We may disagree with them a lot about a lot of those points, but they certainly treated us fairly. And, so, we're ready to have you rule on them.

JUDGE NEAL B. BIGGERS : Very well.

JOHN KEKER : If you' d like to hear argument about any particular part, I ' m prepared; but I don' t think it matters so much for this sentencing. It may matter for some others . And that' s kind of the - - one of the reasons that we were so anxious to put in what we thought was the accurate part of the record because it may affect some other people more than it affects Mr. Scruggs.

JUDGE NEAL B. BIGGERS : All right. I appreciate that. What does the Government say about it?

THOMAS DAWSON : If the Court please, summarily, we would also not feel the need for any argument. However, we would like to offer into evidence, as we previously indicated to the clerk, two exhibits. They're on the table there. We've provided copies to opposing counsel and advised them earlier that we would be offering these documents.

They are the Jones v . Scruggs initial suit, that' s Exhibit No. 1 , along with the attachments, which is the S K G agreement. And Exhibit 2 is a March the 6th, 2007, letter from the Scruggs Law Firm to Mr. Jones and his firm concerning the splitting of the fees and positions that they would take; and that was sent to them nine days before the lawsuit was filed that gave rise to this crime. So - -