Jim Black's sentence is cut

Ex-speaker's attorney attributes it to treatment program

RALEIGH (AP) - Former N.C. House Speaker Jim Black got a year knocked off his federal prison sentence, most likely because he did a substance-abuse program, his attorney said yesterday.

Black's projected release date is now March 31, 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons Web site -- exactly one year less than was calculated when he received a 63-month prison sentence in 2007.

A bureau official in Washington couldn't discuss Black's case, citing privacy issues.

But Black's attorney, Jim Craven of Durham, said he is confident that the earlier release is related to Black's completion of a 500-hour program to help people with drug or alcohol problems.

After pleading guilty to taking thousands of dollars from chiropractors while pushing their agenda at the legislature, Black asked through his attorneys for a federal judge to recommend alcohol treatment while he was in prison.

Black, who led the House for eight years as speaker or co-speaker, also entered an Alford plea to state charges of bribery and obstruction of justice a week after his federal plea in February 2007.

State prosecutors accused Black of giving former state Rep. Michael Decker, R-Forsyth, as much as $58,000 in cash and campaign contributions to switch parties in 2003, a move that helped Black remain co-speaker. Black repeatedly denied that he bribed Decker.