Judge plans to dismiss perjury counts against Scrushy News
Judge plans to dismiss perjury counts against Scrushy

[JURIST] A federal judge in Alabama indicated Tuesday that she would throw out three perjury counts against former HealthSouth [official site] CEO Richard Scrushy [Wikipedia entry], but that she would allow his trial to proceed on additional charges. District Judge Karon Bowdre indicated that she would grant a defense motion to bar jurors from hearing evidence about Scrushy's sworn statements to an SEC investigator, telling jurors they would have "three fewer charges to deal with." A written order is expected later this week. Scrushy still must face charges of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice and false corporate reporting. This is the first case of a CEO being accused of violating the Sarbanes-Oxley Act [bill text, PDF], passed in 2002 in response to well-publicized corporate fraud scandals. Even without the perjury charges, Scrushy could still receive a life sentence and be ordered to pay fines up to $278 million if convicted. AP has more. The Northern District of Alabama has additional information about the trial.

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