Early story on this afternoon’s surprise pleading. Wall Street Journal subscribers can get coverage here. Going from indicted to convicted changes a lot of things for folks who aren’t named Dickie Scruggs, but who have benefited from his largess recently. There are a good number of Democrat attorneys general, with names like Dustin McDaniel, Buddy Caldwell, Catherine Cortez Masto, Andrew Cuomo, Jerry Brown, and Lisa Madigan (to name a few) who have been probably been watching this case from the periphery. Why? Because Mr. Scruggs and some of his fellow Mississippi trial lawyer types who are spending a decent amount of time in front of judge have been very generous supporters (for the most part indirectly) to their campaigns, or a committee or two they are deeply involved in. This guilty plea will shake up Mississippi no doubt, and probably rattle a few places outside the state.

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) – Powerful plaintiffs attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs has pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge in a judicial bribery case. The surprise plea came today during a hearing in Oxford on pretrial matters in advance of his scheduled March 31st trial. Scruggs and co-defendant Sidney Backstrom both pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a judge. No plea has yet been entered by Scruggs’ son, Zach.The three were accused of conspiring to bribe a Lafayette County Circuit Court judge for a favorable ruling in a dispute over $26.5 million in legal fees from a mass settlement of Hurricane Katrina cases. The elder Scruggs, one of the best known trial lawyers in the country, was indicted along with his son and three associates in November.

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