On the recordMarch 21, 2012
this resolution concerns testimony, document production, and representation in a criminal matter pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. In this post-conviction proceeding, the defendant, Richard F. ``Dickie'' Scruggs, is seeking to have his honest-services fraud conviction vacated based on the Supreme Court's intervening decision in the case of United States v. Skilling. The criminal conviction, which resulted from a guilty plea, involved the defendant's scheme to bribe a State judge by agreeing to ask Senator Lott to consider the State judge's application to fill a federal judicial vacancy. The defense is seeking testimony from a former staffer of Senator Lott about a brief phone conversation between the Senator and the State judge. Neither Senator Lott nor anyone on his staff was aware of the defendant's scheme. The defense is also seeking testimony and document production from a staffer of Senator Cochran about contacts with Senator Cochran's office by or on behalf of the State judge in his efforts to obtain a federal judgeship. Both Senators Lott and Cochran would like to assist by providing relevant evidence from their staff in this proceeding. This resolution would accordingly authorize Senator Lott's and Cochran's employees, and any other Senate employee from whom evidence may be necessary, to provide evidence in this action, with representation by the Senate Legal Counsel.
