Wright pleads no contest, gets probation
This article was originally published April 7, 2010 at 3:28 p.m. Updated April 7, 2010 at 4:32 p.m.
PHOTO BY STEPHEN B. THORNTON
Former gubernatorial chief of staff Betsey Wright returns to her seat with her attorney Jeff Rosenzweig after Wright plead no contest to charges of trying to smuggle contraband into a maximum-security prison Wednesday afternoon at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Pine Bluff.
Betsey Wright
PINE BLUFF — Former gubernatorial aide Betsey Wright pleaded no contest Wednesday to charges that she attempted to sneak tattoo needles, a box cutter and other prohibited items into the Varner Supermax Unit in Lincoln County last year. She was sentenced to a year of probation and fined $2,000.
The tattoo needles and other items were found during a routine search of Wright’s belongings on May 22 in the entrance building to the prison.
Prison guards said they found the 48 tattoo needles in a Doritos bag, which Wright had submitted along with other items to be scanned by an X-ray machine. They said they also found a pocket knife and box cutter on Wright’s key ring and a set of tweezers inside a pen.
Wright told prison officials she had gotten the Doritos bag from a vending machine in the entrance building. She said she had grabbed the pen by mistake, Arkansas Department of Correction spokesman Dina Tyler has said.
Wright, 66, served as then-Gov. Bill Clinton’s chief of staff for seven years and worked on several of his campaigns. During Clinton’s successful run for the White House in 1992, she coined the term “bimbo eruptions” to refer to the allegations of womanizing that dogged the candidate.
More recently, Wright has spoken up for prisoner rights and against the death penalty, and has called for more of the execution process to be open to public view.
Wright said she pleaded no contest because she feared jurors might find she possessed the items with criminal intent.
During the 1992 campaign, Wright handled the rumors that Clinton had extramarital affairs and coined the term “bimbo eruptions.”
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
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