Former House Speaker Jim Black is expected to plead guilty to a public corruption charge in federal court in Raleigh Thursday, ending the career of North Carolina's most powerful speaker of the modern political era.

Under the deal, Black is expected to plead guilty to one count of accepting illegal gratuities, according to his lawyer and an Observer source. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

In response to questions from the Observer, Black's lawyer, Charlotte attorney Kenneth Bell, confirmed Black's plans today.

"Since somebody is talking who shouldn't have and has leaked what's happened, I will confirm that Dr. Black will enter a guilty plea to accepting illegal gratuities in federal court on Thursday," he said.

Black is expected to plead guilty in state court within the next week, according to two sources familiar with the arrangements.

He will also have to resign his House seat, as the N.C. constitution bars felons from holding office.

The Mecklenburg County Democratic Party's executive committee will meet and recommend a replacement for Black's seat, who Gov. Mike Easley will then appoint.

The court action will end a nearly two-year-long federal and state investigation that has rattled the state's political establishment and has led to five associates of Black being found guilty in federal or state courts.

The long-running probe forced Black, 71, from the speaker's office in December and paraded lawmakers, legislative staffers, political contributors and public officials in front of a federal grand jury.

One source said the former speaker's plea is unrelated to controversies surrounding the video poker industry, the creation of the N.C. lottery, the appointment of then-lottery commissioner Kevin Geddings, illegal lobbying or former Republican Rep. Michael Decker's admission last summer that he accepted a bribe.

In his eight years as speaker, Black elevated the office into a political power center through adroit consensus building and prodigious fundraising. He held together a usually slim Democratic majority divided into factions driven by ideology or personality.

The speaker determines which legislation reaches the House floor for a vote and appoints members to dozens of state commissions and boards. He leveraged the office into a fundraising machine, collecting donations and then doling them out to members of the caucus. By doing so he secured both his majority and the loyalty of many of its members, who reelected him as speaker.

The investigation, conducted by federal and state agents, fanned in several directions, revealing, among other transgressions, a cash-for-vote deal transacted at a pancake house that kept Black in power. The former lawmaker who admitted to taking the $50,000 bribe, Decker from the Winston-Salem area, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy in August.

The State Board of Elections ruled that Black was involved in illegal campaign contributions from optometrists who bundled partially blank checks from colleagues. Last week, Scott Edwards, treasurer for the optometrists' political action committee, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.

Last August, Black's former political director, Meredith Norris, was found guilty in state court of a misdemeanor violation of state lobbying laws for failing to register as a lobbyist for lottery giant Scientific Games. Documents disclosed during the investigation showed Norris, who was not on Black's staff at the time, directed orders to staffers and used her position to help other lobbying clients.

Black appointed former Charlotte public relations consultant Kevin Geddings in September 2005 to the state lottery commission, a seat Geddings resigned weeks later. A year later, Geddings was found guilty of fraud for hiding thousands of dollars in payments from a major lottery vendor prior to his appointment.

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