Rep. Thomas Wright's older brother spent four and a half years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.
William "Joe" Wright II was one of the Wilmington 10, nine black men and a white woman arrested after violence broke out during protests of unequal treatment in school integration.
He and the others were convicted of firebombing a downtown grocery store and shooting at emergency workers, but key witnesses later recanted. Amnesty International once called the group "political prisoners."
In 2006, Thomas Wright told the Wilmington Star-News the memory was "still pretty touchy."
"The emotional, psychological and social impact and effect on my family was horrendous," he said. "My parents were looked upon in a jaundice kind of way by folks who were not friends of the family. People thought they raised a bad seed. My parents in some degree were ostracized."
In 1980, a federal appeals court judge overturned the convictions. Joe Wright died in 1990.
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