Key points:
• Melene Hatcher accused City Council candidate Rick Murillo of lying on a candidate form about whether he has a felony conviction.
• The elections board decided Tuesday that Murillo has a felony conviction, but is allowed to remain in the race.
• Protesters attended the elections board meeting. Some had signs that call Murillo a rapist. He said he will sue them for defamation
Fayetteville City Council candidate Enrique “Ranger Rick” Murillo will remain on the ballot in the November election, the Cumberland County Board of Elections decided Tuesday in a 4-1 vote.
Murillo told CityView he “felt good” about the outcome. “The fact that I stood up for myself, that means a lot to — I know myself — and those that support me.”
Murillo’s candidacy for the District 5 City Council seat was challenged by Melene Hatcher of Fayetteville, who is a friend of incumbent City Council Member Lynne Greene. Hatcher alleged that Murillo lied on his candidate paperwork when he said he has no felony convictions.
Court records from North Carolina and South Carolina show Murillo has been accused of numerous offenses over the past 20 years. They range from traffic infractions and drunken driving charges, to fighting and disorderly conduct, to allegations of sexual assault and rape. Most were dismissed. He previously told CityView he was kicked out of the Army and demoted from sergeant first class to private because of drunken driving charges.
A Cumberland County jury found Murillo not guilty in 2016 of a second-degree rape charge levied in 2014 in Fayetteville.
Hatcher’s challenge of Murillo’s candidacy stemmed from a charge of third-degree sexual conduct in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in 2011. Court records say Murillo pleaded guilty to a lesser assault-and-battery charge in January 2012 and was sentenced to a year of probation.
If Murillo violated the probation, he risked activating a three-year prison sentence.
Murillo said his lawyer told him in 2012 that he was pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, but court documents list a first-degree assault-and-battery charge, which is a felony.
“To my knowledge, my best belief, I am not a felon,” Murillo told the board.
Felonies must be disclosed
People with felony convictions are allowed to vote and run for office in North Carolina as long as they have completed their sentence, including probation or parole. But they are required by law to disclose their felony convictions on their candidacy form. It’s a felony to lie on the form.
Is a lie enough to cancel their candidacy?
“It is not,” Elections Board Member Irene Grimes said on Tuesday. “According to the State Board of Elections, we cannot disqualify somebody from running for office because they lied on the form. That is very clear in the guidelines we received.”
The board members were in agreement that Murillo inaccurately filled out his form when he checked the “no” box next to the question that says, “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?”
But their vote on Tuesday wasn’t about which box Murillo checked.
Instead, they voted that Murillo was eligible to run for office. In particular: Had Murillo had been convicted of a felony, had he served his sentence, and had his voting rights been restored?
Board Chair Linda Devore, Secretary Bree Eldridge, and members Derek Edmonds and Ryan Johnson voted in Murillo’s favor. Grimes voted against him.
Grimes questioned whether Murillo completed the terms of his probation before he filed for office, and she said she disagreed with the phrasing of the motion.
Murillo brought paperwork to show he paid the last of the probation fees, $330, last week. He said he believed he had finished his probation and had been unaware that $330 was still outstanding.
The State Board of Elections says people can regain their voting rights (and the right to run for office) even if they have debts or fees outstanding when their probation or parole ends. Murillo’s probation ended in 2013, according to evidence he brought to the hearing.
Hatcher told CityView she is disappointed by the county Board of Elections decision. She said she intends to appeal to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
“So essentially: You lie on the form, we let you go, and we’re not going to prosecute you,” Hatcher said.
Board Chair Devore told CityView that she intends for the question of whether Murillo committed a felony by inaccurately filling out the paperwork to be referred by the county elections board to the state Board of Elections for investigation.
The outcome in Murillo’s favor did not surprise Greene.
“It turned out exactly what we thought,” she said. She said she had reviewed the law and concluded that the board could not remove him.
“The system needs an overhaul,” Greene said. “If we’re going to have a form, the form needs to be clear. And if we have no expectation that someone’s going to tell the truth, why do we have it on the form?”
Tuesday’s hearing drew about 75 spectators.
Some were there to support Murillo. These included Freddie de la Cruz, who is running for mayor.
A large number of spectators, organized by the Fayetteville Resistance Coalition activist organization, oppose Murillo’s candidacy. They brought signs and posters for what the organization called a silent protest.
Some of the signs had multiple mugshots of Murillo that appeared to have been taken when he was arrested. One said, “No means no to Rapist Rick.” Another shows his photo under the word “rapist” and says “unfit and unqualified.”
Similar images have circulated on social media.
Murillo said he plans to file a defamation lawsuit against the people spreading the messages.
“We’re seeking a lawyer for anyone who put those signs up, had those on their social media. We’re collecting social media posts, pictures,” he said. “Because I was never convicted of rape, for them to hold that up and to post anything is a defamation of character.”
Senior reporter Paul Woolverton can be reached at pwoolverton@cityviewnc.com.
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