Ex-N.C. speaker pleads in state court

A former speaker of the North Carolina House accepted a plea agreement Tuesday on charges of offering a bribe and obstructing justice, crimes that prosecutors tied in part to a scheme that helped him stay in power.

Jim Black entered a so-called Alford plea, which allows defendants to acknowledge that the evidence could result in a conviction but doesn't require them to acknowledge guilt.

Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens postponed sentencing to allow Black to continue cooperating with investigators.

The bribery charge carries a maximum state prison term of about four years, and the obstruction charge has a maximum of about two years in prison. He faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 for his guilty plea last week to one federal count of accepting illegal gratuities. Sentencing on the federal counts is due in May.

Black also resigned from the Legislature last week.

Black and his attorney, Ken Bell, both declined to comment after the hearing ended.

Before Black's plea, Randy Myers, an investigator for the state Bureau of Investigation, testified that former state Rep. Michael Decker requested $50,000 cash from Black for switching from the GOP to the Democratic Party. Black responded, Myers said, by offering mostly campaign checks "because they'd be easier to explain away."

Decker's switch turned a one-vote Republican majority into a 60-60 tie, allowing Black to share power with a GOP counterpart in the House chamber.

"It would be the state's contention that Rep. Decker actually solicited the bribe ... and that Dr. Black offered the bribe and in fact did pay it in a series of installments," Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said.

Decker, who lost re-election in 2004, pleaded guilty last summer to a federal count of conspiracy and later identified Black as one of his co-conspirators.

Black and his attorney strenuously deny Decker's allegation. "Obviously, we think that Michael Decker is unworthy of belief," Bell said.

Black, an optometrist in the Charlotte area, served eight years as speaker before deciding not to seek another term in December.

Over the past seven months, Decker and four other associates of Black have either pleaded guilty, agreed to be sentenced or were convicted of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and lobbying law violations.