CORECTION

A front-page story Tuesday about the conviction of former N.C. Rep. Thomas Wright misstated the voting abilities of convicted felons. Imprisoned felons can't vote, but they can reapply to vote upon their release.

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RALEIGH -- Thomas E. Wright gave his wife a slight wink as armed deputies led him from a Wake County courtroom Monday. It was the former legislator's only reaction to learning he will be in prison until at least 2014.

Wright's conviction on three felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses ended a yearlong investigation and prosecution of accusations that he took out a fraudulent bank loan and put charitable contributions into his own bank account.

The Wilmington Democrat was kicked out of the N.C. House of Representatives last month, becoming the first legislator to suffer that fate since 1880.

In court Monday, Wright declined to say anything before Superior Court Judge Henry Hight Jr. handed down his punishment.

Wright, 52, received three consecutive sentences that will send him to prison for at least five years and 10 months. He could be there as long as seven years and 11 months.

"Good luck to you, Mr. Wright," Hight said before ordering deputies to take Wright into custody.

Wright immediately left for Craven County Institution, a Vanceboro prison where he will spend the first month of his sentence before being reassigned to another state prison, said Keith Acree, spokesman for the N.C. Department of Correction.

Ballots for the May 6 Democratic primary have already been printed in Pender and New Hanover counties with Wright's name listed as one of the three candidates for what once was his N.C. House seat. Even if he's elected, he's not eligible: Convicted felons can't vote or run for office in North Carolina.

Former Wilmington councilwoman Sandra Spaulding Hughes, selected last week by a committee of four Wilmington-area Democrats to take over his seat, and Hollis B. Briggs Jr., a chef and community activist, are running as Democrats for the house seat. The primary winner will face Republican Thomas Goolsby in the November election.

Linda Daves, chairwoman of the N.C. Republican Party, said that corruption like Wright's is common. The past two years at the legislature have been turbulent, with former House Speaker Jim Black, a Charlotte Democrat, convicted of bribery, obstruction of justice and taking illegal payments.

"With the many problems of Democrat politicians venturing outside the law, we know this is not an isolated incident," Daves said in a written statement. "This is a problem of entrenched Democrat power in Raleigh."

Rep. Joe Hackney, the House speaker and Chapel Hill Democrat, said Wright's 16-year career as a legislator was overshadowed by his conviction. "Thomas Wright was a champion for people who often couldn't help themselves, but that doesn't excuse him from having to follow the law," Hackney said.

Wright had testified in his own defense, telling jurors that he was targeted by unnamed political enemies who took issue with Wright's push to commemorate the 1898 Wilmington race riot.

Jurors convicted him of fraudulently taking out a $150,000 loan and putting $7,400 of charitable contributions destined for a Wilmington health-care foundation he led in his own pocket. He urged a state health official to write a letter in 2002 about a nonexistent state grant that, Wake prosecutors said, Wright then used to get the $150,000 loan.

Jurors acquitted Wright of one count of pocketing $1,500 that AT&T meant to give to the health-care foundation.

Wright's attorney, Doug Harris, vowed Monday to appeal the conviction, telling Hight that the media and public interest in the case was unfair.

Harris likened Wright's situation to that of Ohio doctor Sam Sheppard, whose 1954 murder trial became the basis of "The Fugitive" television show and movie. Sheppard was acquitted in 1966 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that he was denied a fair trial because of the "carnival atmosphere" surrounding it.