Raleigh, NORTH CAROLINA

CONVICTION UPHELD
November 4, 2009. The N.C. Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of former state Rep. Thomas Wright, 54, (D).

Wright was sentenced in April 2008 to more than seven years in prison after his conviction on three felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses for taking out a fraudulent bank loan and depositing contributions intended for charity into his personal bank account.

He was also found guilty in August 2008 of obstruction of justice for preventing election officials from carrying out their duties as they investigated his failure to report $150,000 in campaign contributions. He was sentenced to six- to eight-months in prison to be served concurrently with an existing six- to eight-year prison sentence for fraud.

State law requires him to serve at least 85 percent of his six to eight year sentence.

Earlier, he was kicked out of the N.C. House by his peers for ethical violations, becoming the first legislator to suffer that fate since 1880.