Neal Kuopus also passed on his right to a preliminary hearing, thereby sending the case closer to a trial date.

Kuopus appeared briefly in Alameda County Superior Court and let his attorney, deputy public defender Norma Rivera, speak for him.

Rivera asked him several questions to confirm that he understood he had a right to a preliminary hearing, where a judge must decide that a crime happened and that the defendant probably was involved.

The decision to skip the hearing was somewhat of a surprise, because according to court documents, Rivera and deputy district attorney Michael Roemer previously came to an agreement that Kuopus would plead guilty to one of the charges in exchange for a prison sentence of as many as three years, as well as five years of probation.

Rivera declined to comment on the case. Roemer said he could not comment specifically on the case, either.

Roemer said it has become more common to bypass a preliminary hearing.

Kuopus is accused of firing a gun at his ex-girlfriend several times Sept. 9 before escaping in the woman's truck. He was arrested three days later after a neighbor spotted him at his home.

He faces three felony counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle.

Police said Kuopus, 56, shot at the woman after she came to his home in the 4800 block of Mulqueeney Common to reclaim possession of her truck.

After an argument inside his home, police say, he followed her out as she got inside a vehicle with her friends. Both shots missed all three people inside, but one shattered a window.

No one was hurt and the victims were able to drive away and call police.

Kuopus is set to appear in court in Hayward Dec. 11 for an arraignment.

Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey reported the "bribery overture" to federal authorities and agreed to assist investigators in an "undercover capacity," according to the indictment.

Scruggs was indicted along with three other attorneys, including his son, who is his law partner, and a former Mississippi auditor. They face charges including one count of defrauding the federal government and two counts of wire fraud.

"I'm convinced that these guys did not do what they're accused of doing," said Joey Langston, a lawyer for Scruggs' firm.

Also named as defendants in the indictment are Zach Scruggs; Sidney Backstrom, a lawyer in Scruggs' firm; Timothy Balducci, a New Albany, Miss.-based lawyer; and former state auditor Steven Patterson, who works with Balducci.

Patterson resigned as auditor in 1996 after he was accused of lying on state documents to avoid paying taxes on a car tag.

Scruggs turned himself in to authorities Wednesday afternoon at a federal building in Oxford, Miss., where the grand jury handed up the indictments earlier in the day, Langston said.

After their arraignment Wednesday, Richard Scruggs was released on $100,000 bail, while Zach Scruggs and Patterson each were freed on $50,000 bail. Langston said Backstrom is expected to be arraigned Thursday, but he couldn't say when Balducci is expected to appear in court.

Langston said it was too early for him to comment on the details of the allegations.

"Right now, we've just got to get our arms around it," he said.

Richard Scruggs, whose brother-in-law is Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., earned millions from asbestos litigation and from his role in brokering a multibillion-dollar settlement with tobacco companies in the mid-1990s.

His case against the tobacco companies was portrayed in the 1999 movie "The Insider," starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe.

After Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005, the Gulf Coast native sued insurers on behalf of hundreds of policyholders whose claims were denied after the storm.

On Tuesday, FBI agents searched Scruggs law offices and left with copies of computer hard drives, Langston said.

The alleged bribery scheme stems from a lawsuit filed in March against Scruggs by a Jackson, Miss., law firm, Jones, Funderburg, Sessums, Peterson & Lee in a dispute over $26.5 million in attorneys' fees.

Scruggs created a legal team called the Scruggs Katrina Group to represent policyholders who sued their insurers after the hurricane.

In January, Scruggs' legal team reached a mass settlement of suits with State Farm Insurance Cos. that involved more than $26 million in lawyers' fees.

The lawsuit accuses Scruggs of trying to "freeze out" lawyers from the Jackson law firm, including senior partner John G. Jones, and pay it a "ridiculously low figure" for its "substantial" work.

After the suit was filed, Balducci is accused of having several meetings and conversations with Lackey in which Balducci agreed to pay the judge for ruling in favor of Scruggs in the case, according to the indictment.

Scruggs allegedly tried to cover up the scheme by falsely creating documents that showed he hired Balducci to work on an unrelated case, when he was actually reimbursing him for the cash bribes, the indictment said.

The indictment includes excerpts of telephone conversations between Balducci and the judge that were presumably recorded by federal authorities.

A preliminary approval hearing was scheduled for Monday, Kinley said, but declined to estimate the cost to Ford.

The settlement applies to about 1 million people in California, Connecticut, Illinois and Texas, according to the Associated Press, which cited Kevin Roddy, a New Jersey attorney and co-counsel for the SUV owners who brought the lawsuit.

The attorney, who could not immediately be reached, told the AP that the settlement would be filed later on Wednesday in Sacramento County Superior Court. It will allow vehicle owners to apply for $500 vouchers to buy new Explorers or $300 vouchers to buy other Ford or Lincoln Mercury products.

The settlements apply to Explorers from model years 1991 through 2001, Roddy said in the report.