Who might Kay Hagan recommend for U.S. attorney?

With the three federal prosecutor jobs opening up sometime next year, the Democratic senator-elect will have a chance to name their replacements.

In talks with local lawyers, Dome has heard a few names come up:

Dan Blue. The former speaker of the state House and current legislator has strong ties to the Obama campaign in North Carolina and would be a familiar name.

Joe Cheshire. A noted defense attorney best known for his work on the Duke lacrosse case, he would be a wild-card pick who would bring a high profile to the job.

Benjamin R. David. The district attorney for New Hanover and Pender counties previously worked for white shoe law firm Kilpatrick Stockton.

Hampton Dellinger. The former deputy attorney general and special counsel to Gov. Mike Easley came in second in his bid for the lieutenant governor nomination this year.

Dewey Hudson. The district attorney in Onslow County was briefly in the national news earlier this year over the case of suspected killer Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean.

Daniel Johnson. The former assistant district attorney in Wake County is an honored veteran who took on an unsuccessful campaign against Rep. Patrick McHenry.

Abe Jones. The longtime Wake County Superior Court judge and former Wake County commissioner once worked in the U.S. attorney's office.

Ripley Rand. A former prosecutor, the son of Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand has served as an appointed Superior Court judge since 2002, though he lost a 2006 election in Wake County.

Scott Thomas. The district attorney for Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties served in the state Senate from 2000 to 2005 alongside Hagan.

Colon Willoughby. The Wake County district attorney is well-connected in Raleigh and has worked closely with federal prosecutors, most recently on the Jim Black and Thomas Wright cases.

A spokeswoman for Hagan said recently that she is focusing on building her Senate staff right now in order to avoid disruption to constituent services.

Doug McCullough says federal court experience is a plus for any potential U.S. attorney.

The state Appeals Court judge, who served as an interim U.S. attorney in 1987 and again in 1993, said that any potential appointees ideally would have experience in the federal court system.

"A Democratic alumnus of the office would probably be the leading contender," said McCullough, who is a registered Republican. "If not, somebody who clerked for a federal judge or who works in the federal courts in private practice."

Alternately, he said that another strong candidate would be a local prosecutor, especially someone like Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby, who has worked with the U.S. attorney's office on state corruption cases.

McCullough said one barrier to finding good applicants is a one-year limitation that U.S. attorneys have on working opposite the Department of Justice after their term expires.

He said that many qualified private attorneys don't want to give up their ability to practice in the courts they know best for such a long period of time. As a result, some aim for judgeships or positions in academia afterward, while others avoid a U.S. attorney post entirely.

Update: An earlier version of this post misstated the nature of the ban.

Former U.S. attorneys are not allowed to represent clients directly dealing with the U.S. Department of Justice for one year after leaving their post, although they can advise a client as part of a team of lawyers.

They also have a two-year ban on dealing with any cases that began while they were a U.S. attorney and a lifetime ban on any cases they handled.

Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby says he wanted to bring Thomas Wright's case full circle.

Speaking to reporters after a jury found the former lawmaker guilty of obstruction of justice, Willoughby was asked how the public benefited from the trial if Wright received no extra prison time.

He replied that Wright's campaign finance irregularities were the original reason investigators started looking into the Wilmington Democrat. Only then did they find other reasons to charge him with fraud, which Wright was convicted of in April.

"I think that was the original reason that these cases came about," Willoughby said of the obstruction of justice charge.

Wright's attorney Doug Harris told reporters that Judge Donald Stephens took away any chance for a "not guilty" verdict.

"It was impossible to win based on the instructions the jury was given," he said.

Harris also renewed his argument that the charge of obstruction of justice didn't fit Wright's crimes related to campaign finances.

"He should have been charged with that misdemeanor, and he should have pleaded guilty to that misdemeanor," Harris said. "You must charge according to what the crime is."

Willoughby called for tougher penalties for campaign finance violations.

The SBI has ended its probe into the purchase of portrait by former state mental hospital director Patsy Christian without action.

The investigation was requested by the state Department of Health and Human Services in June following reports in The News & Observer about a painting of herself that Christian commissioned from J. Lee Harris, a hospital nurse who sidelined as an artist, reports Michael Biesecker.

The artwork was paid for using vending machine revenue from John Umstead Hospital that the state budget manual says should be spent to benefit patients.

Following public uproar about the portrait, Christian resigned her position as chief executive officer of Central Regional Hospital in Butner and was reassigned to a newly created position within the department at 95 percent of her former salary.

DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton ordered that the portrait not hang in the new hospital for which it was commissioned and that state money paid for the artwork be recovered. Harris refunded the $572 she was paid for the "executive portrait" and its gilded frame.

Though state law explicitly forbids the awarding of state service contracts to state employees, Erik Hooks, an assistant SBI director, wrote in an Aug. 14 letter that he had concluded "no further inquiry by the SBI is necessary at this time."

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Both the prosecution and the defense have rested in Thomas Wright's second criminal trial.

Closing arguments are set to begin Tuesday afternoon in Wake Superior Court, to be followed by instructions to the jury and jury deliberations.

The Wilmington Democrat and former House member is charged with obstruction of justice for failing to disclose more than $100,000 in campaign contributions. A conviction could add at least four months to his prison sentence on three fraud convictions.

Wright's attorney Doug Harris presented no evidence. He told reporters Monday after court that he had seen nothing from prosecutors he wanted to respond to.

Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby called four witnesses: two investigators and two people from Wilmington who had worked with Wright's campaign finances.

Following the testimony, Judge Donald Stephens ruled against a motion by Harris to dismiss the case.

A Wake County jury heard evidence Tuesday that former state Rep. Thomas Wright secretly transferred tens of thousands of dollars from his campaign accounts to himself over several years.

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby introduced into evidence several charts detailing the Wilmington Democrat's campaign transactions, David Ingram reports.

One chart showed that 91 percent of the transfers Wright made to himself were not disclosed on campaign finance reports. Wright is charged with obstruction of justice for what prosecutors say was his failure to disclose more than $100,000 in campaign contributions.

Kim Strach, deputy director of the State Board of Elections, testified that in one case Wright simply cashed a check from a political action committee for himself. She added that he has yet to file any amendments to his campaign finance reports.

Under from cross examination by Wright's attorney, Doug Harris of Greensboro, Strach agreed that Wright did not take any steps to obstruct her investigation other than once providing an incorrect name for his campaign treasurer.

Harris told the jury in his opening statement that Wright's behavior doesn't fit the charge.

In April, a jury convicted Wright in Wake Superior Court on three separate charges related to financial improprieties. He is due to be released in May 2015, though a conviction for obstruction of justice could add at least four months to his sentence.

Testimony has begun in the obstruction of justice trial of former state Rep. Thomas Wright.

Prosecutors called as their first witness State Bureau of Investigation agent Johnnie Umphlet, who began investigating Wright in May 2007. Umphlet testified about campaign finance reports that Wright has filed since 2000.

Also Monday afternoon jurors heard brief opening statements from Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby and Wright's attorney, Doug Harris.

Willoughby said he will call on jurors to determine that Wright's failure to disclose campaign contributions deprived the public of information about the Wilmington Democrat's campaign dealings.

Harris asked jurors to question whether Wright's conduct is even a crime.

Laura Leslie says Thomas Wright's testimony was damaging.

The WUNC reporter writes on her blog that the former state representative's testimony at his criminal fraud trial "got weird, then ludicrous, then absurd."

She notes he said that District Attorney Colon Willoughby doesn't know how the legislature works, claimed that someone must have tampered with evidence and claimed that he was being targeted by politicians angry about his work on the 1898 Wilmington riots.

I'm certainly no jury expert, but I'd guess from their expressions they weren't buying it. By the end of the day, Wright was grinning and laughing at Willoughby from the stand, but they weren't laughing with him. He even tried to joke about his wife's (very sympathetic) testimony, but it fell completely flat.

Leslie says that Willoughby refuted or challenged Wright's statements with evidence.

Jury selection has begun in the criminal trial of former state Rep. Thomas Wright.

Wright, a Wilmington Democrat, faces charges that he used a health foundation to solicit charitable contributions and to secure a $150,000 bank loan and then pocketed the money, reports David Ingram of The Charlotte Observer.

Judge Henry Hight of Wake Superior Court ruled this morning that media coverage of Wright's case - and of his expulsion from the N.C. House this month - should not prevent the trial from moving forward.

Wright's attorney Doug Harris had argued that potential jurors "would almost have to be living in a cave" not to be aware of the case and asked for a delay of two or three months. "This is all very fresh in the prospective jurors' minds," he said.

Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby disagreed.

"I don't think this case has nearly the public interest that Mr. Harris suggests," he said.

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Daniel Johnson will hold a fundraiser in Raleigh Thursday.

The former Wake County assistant district attorney, who is running for the Democratic nomination to face U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, will be at the Player's Retreat form 6 to 8 p.m.

Hosts include state Rep. Grier Martin, music attorney Gus Gusler, Wake County Clerk of Court Lorrin Freeman, Raleigh attorney David Kirby, state Senate candidate Josh Stein and Wake County prosecutor Colon Willoughby.

The Player's Retreat is a longtime Democratic hangout in Raleigh.