The jury in Thomas Wright's criminal trial needed help with a definition.

"Can we have the definition of 'intent to defraud'?" they asked in a note read aloud by Judge Donald Stephens in Wake Superior Court.

The phrase is not defined in state law, Stephens told lawyers in the case, so the judge had to crack open Black's Law Dictionary and fashion its entry to fit the Wilmington Democrat's case.

Stephens told jurors that the phrase means "to deceive another person" and to induce that person "to give up something or to forgo something." In Wright's case, he said, the "something" is the proper enforcement of campaign finance laws.

Wright's lawyer Doug Harris objected to mentioning campaign finance laws because "it effectively instructs the jury how to apply it to the case." Stephens replied that he wanted to avoid confusing the jury.

Stephens included the phrase "intent to defraud" as an element in felony obstruction of justice, one of three possible findings for jurors. It is not an element in misdemeanor obstruction of justice.

The jury resumed deliberations at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday.