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Stein’s campaign has also argued more broadly that the ad isn’t any more misleading than ads aired by O’Neill and other political candidates. Stein’s campaign has said the ad is fair because O’Neill, in his capacity as a district attorney, has influence over whether sexual assault cases are prosecuted and that, by extension, he has some tested over whether rape kits are tested. O’Neill filed a complaint with the state elections board alleging that Stein’s campaign circulated false and derogatory information about him-potentially violating a 90-year-old law that carries a fine of up to $1,000 and up to 60 days in jail.
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O’Neill, the Forsyth County District Attorney, alleged that the ad is defamatory because local law agencies such as city police departments and county sheriffs departments typically maintain custodial control of rape kits. Stein’s campaign called the case “nonsense.” Freeman, who has recused herself in the case, alleged that Stein’s allies have applied political pressure in hopes of influencing decisions about the case.Īt the heart of the case is a television ad by Stein’s campaign in which a supporter claimed that his opponent in that race, Jim O’Neill, “left 1,500 rape kits sitting on a shelf, leaving rapists on the streets.” In the moments after the grand jury’s action, Freeman and representatives of Stein lobbed accusations in an extraordinary exchange. And the DA office’s pursuit of the case has been scrutinized because of its novelty.Īnd on Monday, tension between the two intensified. Stein is expected to run for governor in 2024. The case has drawn considerable intrigue in part because Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, like Stein, is a Democrat. Wake County prosecutors are one step closer to potentially bringing charges against the state’s top law enforcement official, who is alleged to have violated an obscure and untested election law that prohibits politicians from making false statements about each other.Ī grand jury on Monday returned a presentment to the Wake County district attorney’s office, a move that allows prosecutors to pursue a possible indictment against Attorney General Josh Stein and his campaign over statements made in a 2020 television ad. By Paul Specht, WRAL state government reporter