This time on voter fraud charges after voting while awaiting the date to begin his prison sentence after having plead guilty to felony charges. The Charlotte Observer article on the indictment has some rather amusing quotes:
Cannon and his attorneys told a federal judge in November that the former mayor did not realize he was breaking the law when he voted at Ballantyne Commons. “I did this without thinking,” Cannon said. “The light didn’t come on that day.”
And at the end of article:
Attorney George Laughrun said he doesn’t understand why prosecutors would go through the trouble and expense of charging Cannon with this type of crime.
“You’ve got to have intent,” he said. “It’s not like he tried to sneak in right before the polls closed. He wasn’t wearing sunglasses and a hat.”
Laughrun said the indictment raises the question on whether prosecutors are “piling on.”
“Obviously, he’s lost his position. He’s gone through public humiliation. He’s a convicted felon,” Laughrun said. “What’s the state of North Carolina got to gain for persecuting Pat Cannon on voter fraud?”
Maybe to generate some publicity so that the light comes on in other people’s head who are in the same situation that Cannon was in…
Bonus observation: Persecuting? Hardly.
