Edwards Trial Judge Declared a Mistrial
by Jury failed to reach agreement on five other charges
The judge in the case against John Edwards, one of the Democratic candidates to run for the presidency of EU in 2008, declared a mistrial after the jury failed to reach a verdict on all six counts.
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The jury reached a verdict only in relation to the position number three, of which he was acquitted, reported NBC News . This charge is accused of receiving money from the millionaire heiress Rachel Mellon.
The Associated Press reported that the jury failed to reach agreement on five other charges. In this situation, the judge overturned the trial.
Confusion in court
This was the ninth day of judgment against Edwards, who was full of confusion after the judge believed the jury reached a verdict on all charges. After learning that only had a verdict, they were sent back to deliberate.
The prosecution argued that Edwards knew that you can not donate more than $ 2,300 for a campaign. Meanwhile, the defense argued that the former senator did not know that accepting that money was a violation of the law.
Charges against Edwards
Edwards, 58, former Democratic senator, running mate of John Kerry in 2004 and president in 2008, faced six charges of accepting nearly $ 1 million to conceal his affair with videographer Rielle Hunter, with whom he had a daughter.
In the indictment, prosecutors argued that Edwards violated the law by accepting money as an illegal contribution to his 2008 presidential campaign to maintain its pristine image.
Edwards faced a charge of conspiracy to violate federal campaign finance and lying about expenses, four counts of accepting and receiving illegal campaign contributions from two donors in 2007 and 2008, and one count of concealing all those illegal donations to the authorities.
Each charge carried a prison sentence of five years and a fine of $ 250 thousand.
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