Thomas Wright
RALEIGH -- Former state lawmaker Thomas Wright, who is already serving a six-year minimum sentence on fraud charges, was found guilty of felony obstruction of justice Wednesday.
He won’t serve anymore jail time for the conviction though.
Prosecutors said the Wilmington-area Democrat prevented election officials from investigating his failure to report $150,000 in campaign contributions. He was sentenced to between six months and eight months in prison, but the sentence will run concurrently with his current six- to eight-year sentence.
Jurors deliberated for about two and a half hours over two days before reaching their unanimous decision.
News 14 Carolina's Deborah Tuff has more on the trial of former state lawmaker Thomas Wright.
On Tuesday, witnesses took the stand and said that they deposited checks for Wright but never filled out a disclosure report. Filing those reports is part of the treasurer's duties and is required by law.
Like the other charges for which he was sent to prison, Wright's attorneys blamed the reporting issues on sloppy bookkeeping. They said Wright did wrong but did not break the law.
Wright's attorney, Douglas Harris, said he believes Wright only made mistakes on his campaign disclosure forms.
"You've heard the [board of] elections vice chairman herself say that it was legal to take money out of the campaign fund and spend it as long as you reported it," Harris said after the trial. "They're trying to make it look like it's a big conversion or a big wrong thing. It wasn't wrong at all in those days. Many legislatures did it, it's legal."
The jury decided that Wright intended to defraud the government, which upgraded the charge from a misdemeanor to a felony.
Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby, who prosecuted the case, said the case indicates the need for change.
"I think our campaign finance laws probably cry out for an overhaul," he said. "We've seen some particularly egregious violations that don't fit the misdemeanor statute any longer."
And even though Wright was found guilty -- his campaign contributors should consider their money gone.
Willoughby said it's missing.
Wright was expelled from the State House in March.