Wright's felony trial could start today

RALEIGH -- The first North Carolina legislator thrown out of office by his colleagues for misconduct in 128 years now must sit before another set of peers that would consider similar charges.

The criminal trial of former Rep. Thomas E. Wright, scheduled to begin today in a Wake County courtroom, could end with the Wilmington Democrat facing prison time if a jury believes felony counts lodged against him are true.

Wright was indicted in December on charges he fraudulently obtained $160,000 in bank loans and pocketed another $190,000 in contributions meant for his campaign or a health foundation he led in Wilmington. He faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted on the five counts of fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.

A House committee investigating accusations based on the indictments found this month there was clear and convincing evidence that he committed ethical misconduct. On March 20, the full House voted 109-5 to expel him.

The eight-term lawmaker is challenging the expulsion in court, arguing that legislators violated his constitutional rights in part by removing him based on a lower threshold of evidence than in a criminal proceeding.

Wright, 52, has denied the allegations against him but says he'll finally get to explain why he believes he's innocent. He declined to offer evidence in the legislative proceedings for fear of revealing his strategy to Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby, according to his attorneys.

It's possible that the trial, delayed once already, could be pushed back. Douglas Harris, Wright's criminal attorney, didn't return phone calls seeking comment Thursday and Friday. But he said immediately after Wright's expulsion that he would probably ask Judge Henry Hight to delay the trial.

"The courts ordinarily don't like a case with this much bad things being said to go forward to trial right away," Harris said. "So I think it would be logical for the judge to permit this to be bumped back several months to allow things to cool off a little."

Willoughby, who will try the case, said he's ready to go forward with the trial. He has said he wanted to complete the trial, which could last a week or longer, soon so as not to interfere with the May 6 primary.

Despite his expulsion, Wright is still running for his old 18th District seat and faces two other Democrats in the primary. Wright would be disqualified from returning to the legislature if he is convicted of a felony.

It shouldn't be hard to seat a jury to judge Wright fairly despite the publicity surrounding his expulsion and details released about his alleged misconduct, Willoughby argued last week.

"I expect most folks haven't paid attention to what's going on," he said in an interview. "They probably didn't have the luxury of having the information or forming opinions about that."

Hight has yet to rule on Wright's requests to dismiss the obstruction of justice count -- focusing on about 400 campaign contributions that prosecutors say were not reported -- and one of the five fraud counts.