McCrae Dowless rejects plea deal in 9th District election scandal

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Monday that the deal is available only until the end of the month. After Nov. 30, Leslie McCrae Dowless will have to go to trial next year on charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy to obstruct justice, illegal possession of an absentee ballot, perjury and solicitation to commit perjury, she said.

Dowless, 65, of Bladenboro, was indicted after the 2018 election, during which his team went door to door collecting absentee ballots and sometimes filling them out, according to testimony offered at the State Board of Elections hearings that followed.

Freeman has offered him a recommended sentence of one year in prison and five years on probation if he pleads guilty to all charges, except for perjury, which would be dropped.

The sentence would run at the same time as his federal sentence on unrelated charges, she said.

Superior Court Judge Keith Gregory warned Dowless in a brief court hearing Monday morning that he faces much more time behind bars if he doesn't take the deal on the state charges and is convicted at trial. Under the deal, he would serve only six months in state prison following his six months in federal prison.

His federal sentence begins Dec. 1.

Defense attorney Drew Sprague said Dowless isn't interested in in pleading guilty to the state charges, and he objected to a proposed trial date next August.

Freeman noted that Dowless was indicted almost three years ago, and the case needs to move forward.

"The allegations that have risen out of this investigation all along have centered around election activity and maintaining the integrity around the election system, and that is something the state of North Carolina has a very strong interest in," she said.

Dowless and Sprague declined to comment as they left the courtroom.