Ex-DA to former counterpart: 'You wanted us to lie'

Wallace Bradsher, who resigned a year ago as district attorney of Person and Caswell counties, faces charges of felony conspiracy, obtaining property by false pretense, aiding and abetting obstruction of justice and failure to discharge duties.

Former Rockingham County District Attorney Craig Blitzer, who has already pleaded guilty to failure to discharge the duties of his office, is the star witness against Bradsher.

Blitzer has testified that he and Bradsher agreed in early 2015 to hire each other's wives to get around state ethics rules against prosecutors hiring spouses. He said Bradsher allowed Cindy Blitzer to attend nursing school and handle family errands, such as taking her son to school and picking him up, while continuing to record hours.

Cindy Blitzer was initially working on a child homicide case for Bradsher, but he eventually took all of the files in the case back to his office in Roxboro. Craig Blitzer said he told Bradsher in April 2016 his wife had nothing to do.

"His response was to just have her concentrate on school, and he'd get back to her," Blitzer said, adding that she was never given any work to do after that.

When Wake County Assistant District Attorney Patrick Latour asked Blitzer how his wife was supposed to work while taking nursing classes, he said she would have done the work on nights and weekends.

"There was time to do it. There just was nothing to do," he said.

Cindy Blitzer was prepared to resign, her husband said, but Wallace Bradsher would have nothing of it. Bradsher insisted he, as district attorney, had "unfettered discretion" with how his employees used their time, and he would tell authorities she was doing cross-training and working on other projects, Craig Blitzer said.

"It's just becoming too much. This is not right. Should she resign," Blitzer testified, recounting a phone conversation between him, his wife and Bradsher. "Mr. Brasher's telling her no, not [to] resign, this is the story we're going to go with. I'm looking at Cindy and she's looking at me, and we're like, we're not going with that story because that story doesn't exist."

In about five hours of cross-examination, Bradsher, who is representing himself, kept pressing Blitzer on details of conversations and meetings in 2015 and 2016 in an effort to trip him up. Blitzer merely denied most of Bradsher's contentions.

"Isn't it true, Mr. Blitzer, that when you and Cindy called me, that y'all had a plan?" Bradsher asked.

"If I had a plan, rest assured, I would have recorded the conversation," Blitzer replied.

Later, Bradsher asked whether Blitzer remembered Bradsher asking Cindy Blitzer to continue working on special projects.

"I recall you saying on the phone that that's what we were going to say," Blitzer said. "There were no special projects."

"So, if there were no special projects, why would you not say, 'Wallace, what are you talking about?'" Bradsher asked.

"Because you wanted us to lie, and it was time to end the conversation," Blitzer replied.

Blitzer did acknowledge that he asked two people in his office to help his wife by taking some of her online coursework for her, adding that he also assisted her with her courses.

"I was wrong to ask them," he said. "I felt I was asking them as a friend ... [but] I realize there really wasn't much room for them to say no if they objected to it."

Investigators determined that Pam Bradsher did the work she was paid to do but that Cindy Blitzer earned $48,000 from her no-show job.

Craig Blitzer, who resigned in March 2016, repaid the state the $48,000 as part of his plea agreement.

His testimony is expected to continue Wednesday.