RALEIGH, N.C.  – Attorneys for North Carolina State University says they have found that e-mails during the hiring process of former first lady Mary Easley were deleted from the account of former Chancellor James Oblinger.

The university’s lawyers said in a letter to the U.S. attorney’s office released Wednesday that they have been able to determine how and why the e-mails sent from and received by Oblinger’s e-mail account were deleted. They said there are periods of time in the first half of 2005 for which officials have been unable to recover e-mails.

Easley was hired in May of 2005.

Oblinger attorney Press Millen says the chancellor may have deleted e-mails to clean up his account but never engaged in any wholesale deletion of e-mails targeting those related to Easley.