FIRST ON 3: Soles pleads guilty

The longest serving member of the state legislature in North Carolina history is now an admitted criminal. Sen. R.C. Soles pleaded guilty this afternoon in Columbus County to misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon for the August shooting of Kyle Blackburn at the senator’s Tabor City home.

Last month a grand jury indicted Soles on a felony assault charge. Soles had claimed Blackburn was trying to break into his home when the shooting happened, but Blackburn was shot in the back of the leg.

The crime is a class A1 misdemeanor. Soles will have to pay a $1,000 fine.

Prosecutors say Soles fired two shots with one of them hitting Blackburn.