Shooting by state senator raises questions in N.C.

One of the longest-serving state senators in the United States, North Carolina’s R.C. Soles (D), shot an intruder who kicked down the door of his house on Sunday, according to the Wilmington Star-News.

The 74-year-old lawmaker, who was first elected to state office in 1968, allegedly shot Kyle Blackburn at approximately 5 p.m. Sunday afternoon, as Blackburn and another man attempted to break into his home.

{mosads}Blackburn was taken to a hospital in South Carolina, where a spokeswoman reported late Sunday that he was in good condition.

Reached by telephone Sunday night, Sen. Soles told the Raleigh News & Observer, “I am not in a position to talk to you. I’m right in the middle of an investigation.”

Authorities report the other man involved in the incident is B.J. Wright, a former legal client of Soles’s through his law firm, Soles, Phipps, Ray & Prince. Wright was released from prison less than three weeks prior to the confrontation at Soles’s house, according to Columbus County District Attorney Rex Gore.

Sources also told the Star-News that Sen. Soles, a 2006 inductee into the North Carolina Bar Association’s General Practice Hall of Fame, may have given Wright money while Wright was in prison.

In 2008 another young man, Ted Strickland, also claimed that Soles had provided him with financial support, including giving him the money to purchase a house.

But in May of that year, Strickland approached a patrol car claiming that Sen. Soles had “attempted to touch him.”

Strickland also told police that Soles had sprayed him with pepper spray when he refused Soles’s sexual advances.

Soles did not deny spraying Strickland with pepper spray, but claimed it was in response to the young man’s throwing a motorcycle helmet at him. No charges were filed in the matter.

Most recently, Soles was in the headlines earlier this month amid allegations that he fondled a male colleague, 27-year-old Stacey Scott, more than a decade ago, when Scott was still a teenager.

Following the airing of an interview last week about the alleged abuse, Scott recanted his testimony, despite the fact that the interview had been taped more than a year ago.

Scott now claims he was on drugs when he made the allegations against Soles. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is investigating the matter.

 In August of 1983, Soles was acquitted on federal charges of aiding and abetting bribery. Simultaneous charges of conspiracy, vote-buying and perjury were dropped for lack of evidence.