Donald Stephens

Dome Memo: Busy week, but no budget

bniolet — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:15:26 -0400

'DEADLINE' IS A STRONG TERM: The House and Senate missed their July 15 deadline to adopt a budget. So, proving that it's good to be the ones who make the laws, they gave themselves more time. Meanwhile, the state court system, unsure over whether it can make payroll next month, sure would like to see a budget.

BILLS, BILLS, BILLS: There's no budget yet, but that doesn't mean the House and Senate aren't working. Key votes came this week on bills to shore up the Beach Plan, to allow challenges of racism to death sentences and to stop requiring sexual assault victims to pay for rape kit exams.

SOFT ON CRIME?: Judges were in giving moods this week. First U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt released Sam Currin, a former judge, federal prosecutor and state Republican Party chairman, who had served a fraction of his sentence for money laundering and obstruction. Then Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens decided that former House Speaker Jim Black can serve his state time concurrently with his federal prison sentence.

IN OTHER NEWS: Attorney General Roy Cooper says he will work to get money that was diverted away from crime victims. Unemployment in North Carolina has hit African Americans especially hard. Attorney and Senate hopeful Kenneth Lewis has hired Joe Trippi, who ran John Edwards last presidential campaign to help with fundraising.

Black gets minimum state sentence

bniolet — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:48:22 -0400

The prosecution of former state House Speaker Jim Black wound to a close Thursday, when he received the minimum 11- to 14- month state sentence for bribery after having paid a $1 million fine.

But Black, who is already serving a 63-month sentence in federal prison, will serve his state sentence concurrently and will therefore likely not spend any additional time in a prison cell, Rob Christensen reports.

"He is an old man who is sick and who will stay in prison, perhaps the rest of his life," said Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens, in explaining his leniency. "I am under the impression that his wife is ill and may die while he is in prison."

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby called the sentence "appropriate."

Black, 74, who is an optometrist, was sentenced to federal prison in 2007 after getting caught up in a fund raising scandal. The Mecklenburg Democrat had been one of the most powerful men in state government, able to strongly influence what bills became law.

More after the jump.

Webster: Trial an 'abomination'

bniolet — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:16:13 -0400

Calling his trial an "abomination," former state Sen. Hugh Webster took the stand Wednesday in Caswell County Superior Court and denied the allegations that he violated the trust of his elderly aunt and embezzled $12,000 from her.

Webster, 65, contends the check from his 83-year-old aunt was a gift, the Burlington Times-News reports.

The state has contended that the aunt gave Webster the money with the understanding that he was going to invest it for her by buying a CD at a credit union and that he did not give it back when she asked for it.

On the witness stand, Webster was asked whether he told an SBI agent that if he needed to steal it would be more than $12,000. Webster said, "I've had the opportunity to steal millions of dollars and I never stole a dime."

The Burlington Republican added, "What's happening here, right now, is an abomination."

Earlier in the day, while Webster's attorney Kieran Shanahan was arguing a motion to Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens, Webster walked out of court.

"I hope your client had some reason to leave the courtroom without the permission of the court," Stephens said calmly.

A minute later, Webster returned and sat down without saying a word.

The case continues today.

Supreme Court: Doctors can be present

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:00:14 -0400

The N.C. Supreme Court has ruled that doctors can be present at executions.

In a 4-3 decision authored by Justice Edward Thomas Brady, the court found that the N.C. Medical Board could not prohibit physicians from participating in the state's capital punishment procedures.

A state statute, "by its plain language, envisions physician participation in executions in some professional capacity," Brady wrote.

The medical board, a professional group that sets ethics rules for doctors, had barred doctors from monitoring inmates who were being put to death. In a lawsuit, the state Department of Correction argued that state law requiring doctors trumped the board's decision.

A Wake County Superior Court judge sided with the state in 2007, but executions remained in limbo while the case was being resolved. In today's ruling, the majority of the state Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's ruling.

In a dissent, Justices Robin Hudson and Patricia Timmons-Goodson and Chief Justice Sarah Parker argued the court should have let the legislature decide the issue.

Lawyers react to Wright verdict

DavidIngram — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:53:49 -0400

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.

Jury finds Wright guilty

DavidIngram — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:57:59 -0400

A Wake County jury has found Thomas Wright guilty of felony obstruction of justice.

Judge Donald Stephens announced the verdict at 11:53 a.m. Wednesday, after about two and a half hours of deliberation Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sentencing is set to begin.

UPDATE: Wright's attorney Doug Harris said he intends to appeal.

UPDATE II: Stephens sentenced Wright to six to eight months in state prison, to run concurrently with his existing prison term. Wright will not serve extra time for the conviction.

UPDATE III: Wake District Attorney Colon Willoughby did not call for consecutive sentences, which would have meant more prison time. "I don't think it's in the state's interests to extend the time of his incarceration," Willoughby said.

Wright's jury looking at felony choice

DavidIngram — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 11:47:20 -0400

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.

Wright trial heads to closing arguments

DavidIngram — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:29:19 -0400

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.

Wright jury selection begins

bniolet — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:49:52 -0400

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

The Wilmington Democrat is charged with obstruction of justice for failing to disclose more than $100,000 in campaign contributions, David Ingram reports. He was convicted in April of three separate charges related to financial improprieties.

A former top ally of then House Speaker Jim Black, Wright was once among the most powerful members of the House.

Judge Donald Stephens on Monday denied a motion from Wright's lawyer to dismiss the obstruction of justice charge. Wright's lawyer Doug Harris of Greensboro had argued that obstruction of justice must involve an inquiry by investigators in the criminal justice system. But Stephens ruled that the charge can cover the state Board of Elections' campaign finance requirements.

Opening statements could start as early as today.

Wright pleads not guilty

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:36:03 -0500

An attorney for state Rep. Thomas Wright told a judge Friday that Wright is pleading not guilty to charges he took $350,000 from banks, corporations and campaign contributors.

"He is pleading not guilty to all charges. He has read all the charges against him," the attorney, Douglas Harris, told Judge Donald Stephens of Wake Superior Court in a hearing, David Ingram reports.

Harris said a criminal trial could come this summer. He also said Wright is planning to run for re-election this year when filing opens in February, and that he will fight the threat of expulsion by House colleagues.

"I spent all of New Year's Day eating greens and black-eyed peas and looking through two boxes of documents. I believe that Thomas Wright is innocent," Harris said.

Wright, who declined to comment Friday, has attributed the accusations to sloppy bookkeeping. Harris agreed.

"A lot of people don't do things as they should," he said, "and I think a lot of CPAs would attest to that."