DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Jurors were set to begin deliberating the fate of John Edwards today, weighing nearly four weeks of testimony and evidence from the former presidential candidate’s corruption trial.
Edwards is charged with six criminal counts including conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act, accepting contributions that exceeded campaign finance limits, and causing his campaign to file a false financial disclosure report. He faces up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines if convicted of all charges.
At issue is a scheme to use about $1 million from two wealthy campaign donors to hide the Democrat’s pregnant mistress Rielle Hunter as he ran for the White House in 2008.
Jurors will have to weigh whether to believe Edwards, who argued that he didn’t knowingly break the law, or his aide, Andrew Young, who said Edwards recruited him to solicit secret donations in excess of the legal limit for campaign contributions, then $2,300.
The choice before them comes down to choosing which liar to believe.
Young, the prosecution’s star witness, falsely claimed paternity of his boss’s baby in December 2007, after tabloid reporters tracked a visibly pregnant Hunter to a doctor’s appointment.
Edwards repeatedly denied having a relationship with Hunter, only to go on national television in August 2008 to admit having a brief affair with Hunter but that it was physically impossible he was the father of her baby girl. In fact, his relationship with Hunter had lasted more than a year. A recording of that interview was played for the jury last week as the prosecution rested its case.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
