May 31, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Excerpted from ABC News: A federal judge told jurors on the John Edwards case they must go back to deliberating, just moments after the jury announced it had reached a verdict on one of six counts but deadlocked on the others.
The courtroom was briefly thrown into confusion this afternoon. The parties were called back and told a verdict had been reached, but once in court the foreman informed Judge Catherine Eagles that the panel had only reached a unanimous verdict on Count 3 of the indictment.
That verdict, pertaining to whether Edwards illegally received more than $700,000 in donations from wealthy heiress Rachel “Bunny” Mellon to cover up an illicit affair and illegitimate child, was never read.
Edwards’ defense team asked the judge to accept the verdict on Count 3 and declare a mistrial on other charges.
The judge took a brief recess to consider the motion. When she returned she told the jury they must continue to work towards a verdict on the other charges.
Excerpted from The Ticket: The jury in the John Edwards corruption trial said on Thursday it reached a unanimous verdict on just one of the six counts he’s charged with–and the judge ordered them to continue deliberations. The Edwards defense team is calling for a mistrial.
Edwards is charged with six counts—conspiracy, four counts of receiving illegal campaign contributions and one count of making false statements—for allegedly soliciting and secretly spending over $925,000 to cover up his affair with Rielle Hunter, a campaign videographer, during the 2008 presidential election. If he had been convicted on all six counts, Edwards faced up to 30 years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.
According to CNN, the count the jury agreed on was related to money given to Edwards by Rachel “Bunny” Mellon.
The jury began deliberations on May 18 after a month of testimony that alternated between the sordid details of Edwards’ affair with Hunter, the elaborate cover-up and campaign finance law.
