BREAKING: Langston sentenced in judicial bribery scheme
BY STAFF REPORTS
Langston
OXFORD, Miss. (Legal Newsline) - Former Booneville, Miss., attorney Joey Langston has been sentenced to serve three years in federal prison for attempting to bribe Hinds County Judge Bobby DeLaughter in an attorneys fees dispute involving disgraced plaintiffs attorney Richard "Dickie Scruggs.
Langston pleaded guilty in January to the bribery scheme and has told prosecutors that he offered DeLaughter an appointment to a federal judgeship to be made by Scruggs' brother-in-law, former U.S. Senate Majority leader Trent Lott, in exchange for a favorable ruling in a lawsuit brought against Scruggs by a former joint venture partner, Mississippi attorney Roberts Wilson.
Langston was also fined $250,000. Previously, he had represented the State of Mississippi in litigation against Worldcom and Eli Lilly & Company and is a major campaign contributor of state Attorney General Jim Hood.
Scruggs is already serving a five-year sentence for attempting to bribe Lafayette Circuit Judge Henry Lackey in a dispute over fees from Hurricane Katrina.
Most of the judges on the New Mexico Court of Appeals get a failing grade when it comes to the "expansion of liability," according to a judicial evaluation report.
