OXFORD, Miss. (AP) - Federal prison officials say Richard "Dickie" Scruggs will be released Dec. 12.
Scruggs granted release on $2 million bond while he appeals a 2009 guilty plea that he improperly influenced then Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter.
Scruggs says his contacts with DeLaughter were political speech, not bribery. The former attorney, who won a huge settlement against the tobacco industry, was also convicted for conspiring to bribe Circuit Judge Henry Lackey. That sentence is ending, reports the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.
U.S. Senior District Judge Glen Davidson granted bond after Scruggs argued that it would be wrong for him to serve more prison time if his current appeal were granted and his conviction overturned.
Scruggs has been imprisoned in Montgomery, Ala.
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