Easley probe will last longer

The special state prosecutor who is overseeing a major part of the investigation of former Gov. Mike Easley says he is consulting federal authorities and expects it will take many months before he reaches any conclusion on the case.

Bill Kenerly, the district attorney in Rowan County, indicated earlier this month that he hoped to decide about a prosecution by February. But after meeting with other officials on the case, he said it would be longer. It likely means that Easley, a two-term Democratic governor and now a lawyer for the McGuireWoods law firm in Raleigh, will remain under a cloud well into next year.

"It was probably optimistic, if not wildly optimistic, that I would be in a position to make a decision by February," Kenerly said in an interview. "With information I have received since then, it is going to take more time and study than that."

By next week, Kenerly expects to have a full transcript of the four-day hearing that led last month to a unanimous criminal referral from the State Board of Elections. Kenerly, a Republican and a district attorney for two decades, was assigned the case because Wake County DA Colon Willoughby is an Easley friend. Kenerly has already announced that he will not seek re-election next year.

The elections board said it had heard evidence suggesting that Easley committed a crime while in office, but it did not specify what violation it believes occurred.

Testimony at the elections hearing centered on free flights that Easley took, a scheme that used campaign money to pay for repairs on Easley's Raleigh home, the free use of a car by Easley's son and efforts by an Easley aide to raise campaign donations from people with pending interests in state government.

Contradictions

Easley spoke in five hours of testimony and contradicted other witnesses, including a longtime friend named McQueen Campbell. Campbell testified that he got Easley's house fixed and was paid for it from campaign money as a result of an understanding that Easley wanted him to bill the campaign.

The $11,000 in invoices Campbell sent to the campaign were bogus, Campbell testified; they requested payments for flights that never took place. In addition, testimony and records showed that Easley later accepted a $5,400 insurance check for home repairs for which he hadn't paid.

Easley has denied wrongdoing. His lawyer, however, has said that the home repair scheme clearly involved obtaining money fraudulently, but that Campbell bears that responsibility. A lawyer for Campbell has said his client testified honestly.

Kenerly said he would not rule out pursuing perjury charges in the case.

"Any time that there is sworn testimony or sworn documents, then certainly perjury would be something that you would be considering," Kenerly said.

Kenerly said it was too soon to say how much weight, if any, he would give to the views of the five-member elections board. In interviews, the board members have said, for example, that they believed the version of events as told by Campbell, whom Easley had appointed as a trustee at N.C. State University and then worked with to help get Mary Easley a job there.

"That's part of being a prosecutor: You look at conflicting versions and try to determine where the truth lies," Kenerly said. "That's what I do every day."

Some files not public

Kenerly said his work will include reviewing a larger investigative file developed by elections investigators, including materials not yet made public. He said anyone who broke laws could be charged.

He said he has talked with federal authorities, too, and will take into account any potential overlap with the state inquiry. He declined to elaborate.

Kenerly said he will handle the Easley matter by himself, working on it while his office also handles two upcoming murder trials in his county, whose seat is Salisbury.

"In the end, it's my call," he said.

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