Power, Greed, and Hubris by Crockett James R.;

Author:Crockett, James R.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Who Is Judge Henry Lackey?

Henry L. Lackey was born and raised in Calhoun City, Mississippi, where he graduated from Calhoun City High School in 1952. He earned a B.S. in business administration from Mississippi College in 1956 and returned home to run his family business, the Ben Franklin Store. A member of the Mississippi National Guard, he was activated into the U.S. Army in 1961–1962. After being discharged from the army, Lackey went to law school at the University of Mississippi, graduating in 1966.

Lackey opened a law practice in Calhoun City, where he practiced for twenty-six years handling all manner of cases. He was elected Calhoun County prosecuting attorney, and, after serving four years in that capacity, he was appointed Mississippi’s first public defender. Lackey served as the Calhoun County Board of Supervisors’ attorney for eight years. When Judge William Lamb of Mississippi’s Third Circuit retired in 1993, Governor Kirk Fordice appointed Lackey to serve out his term. Subsequently, he was elected circuit judge without opposition four times. The Third Circuit consists of Benton, Calhoun, Chickasaw, Lafayette, Marshall, Tippah, and Union counties.

Judge Lackey was later appointed by Governor Haley Barbour to serve on the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance. He served as the commission’s chairman in 2008. Lackey has also served on the board of trustees of Mississippi College.

Lackey lives with his wife, Helen, a former public school music teacher, in his hometown next door to the house where he was born. Their son, Kevin, is director of the Administrative Office of Courts in Jackson. Judge Lackey is a deacon in the First Baptist Church of Calhoun City, where he met his wife. He is a self-described “deep water Baptist.” According to Lackey, the Christian faith runs in his family: “My dad and mother were both Christian people. There wasn’t any question when we waked up on Sunday morning whether we were going to go to church or not. We just started getting ready.”

Judge Lackey was seventy-three years old when Tim Balducci, a friend and fellow attorney, attempted to bribe him to rule for the defendants in the lawsuit Jones v. Scruggs. That 2007 incident changed Judge Lackey’s life forever and brought him notoriety that he neither sought nor wanted. Judge Lackey’s comment about being approached by Tim Balducci in the Scruggs affair is revealing: “My first thought was what kind of character flaw has he discovered in me that would lead him to think that I would do something like this? I was furious. I mean that this strikes at the heart of our judicial system.” Lackey said the bribe proposal was a “shock that I can’t put into words.”

Lackey soon went to the authorities and agreed to work with the FBI in a sting operation that eventually brought to justice those who tried to bribe him. Explaining why he did not immediately go to the authorities when Balducci approached him, Judge Lackey said he considered Tim Balducci a friend and that he feared the ramifications. Lackey said, “I worried what would become of this young man, his wife, his children.

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