John Edwards Not Guilty on 1 Count, Jury Hung on 5 Others

[WestVirginiaRebel]

ABC News:

A North Carolina jury found former Sen. John Edwards not guilty today on one of six counts in a campaign-finance trial, and declared itself hopelessly deadlocked on the remaining charges, leading the judge to declare a mistrial on those counts.

Edwards, a two-time presidential candidate, accused of soliciting nearly $1 million from wealthy backers to finance a cover up of his illicit affair and illegitimate child during his 2008 bid for the White House, was found not guilty on Count 3 of the six-part indictment.

That count pertained only to whether Edwards illegally received several hundred thousand dollars in donations from wealthy heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon to cover up the affair in 2008.

After nine days of deliberations, three times as long as the defense took to put on its case, the courtroom here was thrown into confusion when it briefly appeared the jury had reached on a verdict on all counts.

The jury informed the judge it had not reached a verdict and was charged again to go back to deliberating.

The other counts pertained to Mellon's donations in 2007, donations in 2007 and 2008 from another wealthy donor, Fred Baron, a conspiracy charge, and a charge of making false statements.

Less than an hour after the judge sent them back to deliberate, the jury returned and declared itself hung on those five outstanding counts.

It was not immediately clear whether the government would seek to retry Edwards on those counts.

________

 

Too tough a case?

[Evad]

Can he still run in 2012?

[Evad]

He certainly has ALL the qualifications for his dim resume.

[Argyle58]

Re-enforcing the Clinton era mantra that Character Doesn't Matter.

[raygun]

I heard this on the road listening to Hannity.

 

At that very moment I was thinking: OMG this could work out one of two ways:

 

they convict

they acquit

they hang

 

Looks like I don't much (eh?)

[raygun]

All I know, is that according to my sources, the jurors where admonished by the presiding judge to refrain from using 'coarse language' at each other (which they've been apparently been wont to do for days on end).

 

Judges should be able to order jurors to vote one way or another. Or not?

 

You think that maybe a bad thing?

[righteousmomma]

From what I gather these were private funds given by a private wealthy deluded (my definition) liberal heiress to Young. He and his wife managed to cover up the affair for Edwards, build a million dollar house and get porcelain caps for his teeth. Not to mentioning writing a book of fictional victimology (them). Edwards is an opportunistic, narcissist. Elizabeth (may she rest in peace) was the power house who "wore the pants" in the family and called the shots. She was a good friend to some that I know personally and the proverbial b*tch to others I know. Edwards has always (from reports) had a wandering eye. Btw even Fox resurrected the tear dropping saga of Edward's ascendantcy from "poor son of mill worker" to self made /law school graduate and wanna be President." He is actually from a small town in SC where his dad was the Mill manager. Not poor. Not rich. Just typical small town Southern middle class.

Edwards made his millions on tear jerking law suits where he shed the tears - like the poor little girl in the public swimming pool who had her "guts" sucked out by the drainage system or something. Not saying that it wasn't a horrible event but that Edwards made the most of it.

[pollyannaish]

What a lech. His eye wandered and he flirted with jurors...but seriously, why would anyone want him? He is a priss!

 

In any case, I suspect this devolved into being a political fight in the end. Either way, he's done.