A lawyer representing Ruffin Poole, a onetime aide to former Gov. Mike Easley, asked a federal judge to dismiss the case against Poole because the indictments fail to show that he did favors for a developer for financial gain and because he cannot be charged with accepting bribes because he was not a public official.
Poole, a longtime Easley aide, was indicted on 51 counts and faces charges that include bribery, racketeering, fraud, money laundering and extortion. The indictment came in January. A trial could begin as early as next month.
Poole's attorney, Joseph E. Zeszotarski Jr., wrote in motions filed last week that the allegations don't support the charges.
The indictment claims that Poole took official action to help Wilmington developer Lanny Wilson and his associates, and received gifts, trips and other favors from them. The indictment also claims that Poole invested in two coastal developments Wilson backed and made telephone calls to help push along permits for those projects.
In his motions, Zeszotarski wrote that there is no allegation that Wilson provided Poole with financial benefits in exchange for official action. And there is no claim that Poole contacted any state agency or requested an action on Wilson's or anyone else's behalf, he wrote.
Over the eight years Easley was governor, Poole worked his way up from deputy press secretary to personal assistant to the governor, to executive counsel. He was a key figure in the Easley administration on permitting, appointments and political matters.
None of his titles fits the legal definition of "public office," Zeszotarski wrote, so Poole cannot be charged with bribery. North Carolina cases have noted the difference between a public official and a public employee, Zeszotarski wrote, and in his positions, Poole could not use "the sovereign power of the state" to commit bribery.
The charges that Poole deprived the state and its citizens of honest service rely on an unconstitutionally vague statute, Zeszotarski wrote, and allegations described in the indictment don't fit actions traditionally considered to be honest services fraud in appellate courts.
The indictment against Poole rose from a long-running probe that surrounds Easley, a Democrat who left office last year.
The government has said it wants to wrap up the Poole case and its "broader investigation" soon.
