RALEIGH, N.C. — The central figure in a scandal that forced a redo of a 2018 North Carolina congressional election has rejected a plea deal in the case.
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.
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