RALEIGH – It was a compelling and unprecedented moment in North Carolina politics.

Mike Easley – a two-term governor, two-term attorney general, and former district attorney – stood before a Wake County judge and entered a plea of guilty. He answered the judge’s questions clearly, but his voice shook as he uttered the words that made him a felon.

For Easley critics and defenders alike, it was bittersweet. While the former governor was ending his public career as a felon, things could have gone far worse for him. Indeed, some had predicted Easley would face indictment on various state and federal charges, facing the possibility of massive fines and a prison sentence. Instead, as part of his plea bargain, Easley will be convicted of just one felony, pay a $1,000, and lose his law license, perhaps permanently.

Thus some critics are outraged. Given what Carolina Journal, the Raleigh News & Observer, and other media outlets have reported about Easley’s political and personal behavior, how could he end up with a single conviction and a nominal fine?

Easley defenders, admittedly a much smaller group, are also upset. They claim that the governor was the victim of unfair treatment by a hostile media and “shills” for his political enemies. The case ended with a “whimper” rather than a “bang,” said Easley’s defense attorney, because he was never the corrupt politician his critics said he was.

Unless state and federal prosecutors choose to explain more about the negotiations that led up to the plea bargain, it is difficult to know for certain why Easley received the deal he did. But judging by what state District Attorney Bill Kenerly and U.S. Attorney George Holding did say, here’s how I think the agreement should be understood.

First, no one should ever make the mistake of equating wrongdoing with criminality. Many actions can be inappropriate, unethical, and corrupt without rising to the level of an act meriting prosecution. The mountains of evidence that Mike and Mary Easley derived personal financial benefit from political donors cannot be disintegrated by the vociferous denials of high-priced defense attorneys.

The governor clearly got a sweetheart deal on a lot in Cannonsgate. But the coastal development didn’t prove to be sufficiently attractive to other buyers, so the land deal went south and he pocketed no gain. It is also quite possible that prosecutors lacked enough evidence to prove a quid pro quo, thus rendering the episode unseemly and unethical but not criminal.

The governor also pulled strings to get his wife a job at N.C. State University, a job in which she was overpaid and underperformed. The chancellor and provost lost their jobs as a result. It was a gross waste of taxpayer resources – but again, that’s not necessarily a crime.

As to violations of campaign-finance law, the state board of elections had already concluded that they occurred and fined the Easley campaign $100,000, most of which was never paid. In calling Easley to testify at its hearings, however, the elections board triggered an odd state law that appeared to give the former governor criminal immunity on matters about which he testified at the hearing.

In his statement, Kenerly referred to the elections board’s action as playing a role in his decision to offer Easley a plea to a single count of failing to report a donated helicopter flight – a flight that, unlike other free flights, had not been the subject of Easley’s testimony and thus arguably wouldn’t have been covered by any immunity.

Sometimes criminal suspects aren’t charged, or if taken to trial aren’t convicted, because law enforcement screws up. That’s the most charitable explanation for why the elections board failed to take the necessary steps to keep Easley from claiming immunity in a later criminal proceeding, which his lawyers were apparently prepared to do.

In short, some of Easley’s misconduct while in office was improper but not prosecutable given the legal situation. But he faced indictment on other matters, so he copped a plea.

Try as they might, Easley’s defenders can’t spin their way out of this: North Carolina’s former governor is a felon.

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Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of CarolinaJournal.com.