newsobserver.com projects - Who has been expelled from the legislature? - Comments

Re: Who has been expelled from the legislature?

Isaac136 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:53:54 -0400

The burden of proof for a member to be expelled should not rise to the level of criminal conviction, for godsakes.

The standard for criminal conviction is what it is because what that person stands to lose is life or liberty. We're talking about tolerable behavior, here, folks, not whether or not s/he raped or murdered.

Conviction of a civil offense is not as perilous, but certainly a person could lose his/her life-savings.

What we're talking about is whether a person is permitted to flout his oath of office by the body before which he swore. This is not a hard call, folks.

Re: Who has been expelled from the legislature?

bkrueger — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:21:55 -0400

A quick scan of the links above indicates that at least Turner, Thorne, Potter, Roberts and Brown were expelled without having been convicted of a crime.

It looks like Gilbert was expelled and then cleared of criminal charges.

Then there's Clary, who was convicted, then elected, then resigned, then re-elected and then expelled.

Re: Who has been expelled from the legislature?

cicero01 — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:50:20 -0400

Embezzlement, theft, fraud, libel, pay scandals: these sound like good grounds to expell someone. Question is: was the General Assembly's expulsion before or after the legislator was convicted of these crimes? This is the key question.

Who has been expelled from the legislature?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:05:23 -0500

Answer:

At least 13 people were kicked out of the legislature between 1757 and 1880.

Below, the year of their expulsion, their names, districts and alleged crimes.

1757: Rep. James Carter, of Rowan County, for embezzlement.

1758: Rep. Francis Brown, of Currituck County, for perjury.

1770: Rep. Herman Husband, of Orange County, for libel.

1779: Rep. William Gilbert, of Tryon County, for fraud.

1784: Rep. Edward Clay, of Caswell County, for theft.

1786: Sen. Benjamin McCullock, of Halifax County, for a military pay scandal.

1786: Rep. Henry Montfort, of Warren County, for a military pay scandal.

1787: Rep. John Bonds, of Nash County, for a military pay scandal.

1809: Rep. John Clary, of Perquimans County, for fornication with his stepdaughter.

1816: Sen. John Roberts, of Carteret County, for fraud.

1835: Rep. Robert Potter, of Granville County, for brandishing a gun during a fight.

1875: Rep. J. Williams Thorne, of Warren County, for publishing a "blasphemous" pamphlet.

1880: Rep. Josiah Turner Jr., of Orange County, for calling other legislators names.

In 2007, two House committees decided to consider expelling Rep. Thomas Wright of Wilmington.