Wright found guilty of obstruction of justice

RALEIGH — Former North Carolina Rep. Thomas Wright has been found guilty of felony obstruction of justice.

Wake County jurors deliberated for about 2 1/2 hours over two days before reaching the verdict Wednesday.

The Wilmington Democrat was accused of preventing election officials from carrying out their duties as they investigated his failure to report $150,000 in campaign contributions.

Wright’s attorney said his client wasn’t guilty of such a crime, acknowledging only that Wright made mistakes on his campaign disclosure forms.

Wright was sentenced to six- to eight-months in prison, but Judge Donald Stephens ordered the term be served concurrently with an existing six- to eight-year prison sentence for fraud.

Wright was expelled from the state House in March.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)