Edwards Dodges Guilty Verdict
After nine days of deliberation a jury found former golden boy Johnny Reid Edwards not guilty on one of six counts in a campaign-finance trail and deadlocked on the remaining charges, leading the judge to declare a mistrial on the outstanding counts.
Edwards is guilty of myriad disgraces and serial sordid transgressions, but violating federal campaign statutes apparently isn’t one of them. The charges were tenuous to start and having a layer of pond scum in former Edwards’ aide Andrew Young as the prosecution’s star witness didn’t help. This from WaPo:
In four weeks of testimony, Edwards was portrayed by a parade of witnesses as a scheming and manipulative politician, but at least some jurors remained unconvinced that he orchestrated an elaborate conspiracy to secretly funnel nearly $1 million that should have been declared as campaign contributions to his mistress and the aides who helped him hide an extramarital affair during the 2008 presidential campaign.
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The only count that the jury reached a verdict on dealt with $200,000 in payments from Virgina heiress Rachel “Bunny” Mellon that were deposited after Edwards dropped out of the 2008 presidential race. Prosecutors failed to persuade jurors that the payments should be considered campaign contributions because Edwards was angling to become the Democrat’s vice presidential nominee or be tapped as attorney general or Supreme Court justice.
In retrospect, the jury should be given props for not jettisoning the rule of law and finding Edwards guilty on general grounds of gross scumbaggery – no easy task given his track record. Although you have to wonder how many of them were having second thoughts if they happened to catch any of Edwards’ post-verdict theatrics.
Speaking afterward outside the courthouse, the two-time presidential candidate said that while he does not believe he did anything illegal, “I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong. There is no one else responsible for my sins.”
Edwards also thanked his family – “including my precious Quinn,” the daughter he tried to peddle off as someone else’s kid to save his own hide had with the mistress at the center of the charges – and said he was looking forward to the possibility of continuing a life of public service.
“I don’t think God is through with me,” Edwards said.
That might be the understatement of the century coming from an inveterate horndog who was repeatedly boinking a flirty blonde while his wife was dying of cancer.
Is it wrong to think Edwards’ apparent repentance would be easier to buy if he had been found guilty on all counts and instead of skating faced a few years on ice; although if that had been the case it’s probably a safe dollars-to-doughnuts bet that he would have come out swinging with self-righteous indignation and claims of political persecution instead of contrition and self-acknowledged blame.
Or not ~ maybe Edwards’ remorse is legit and there’s hope yet for a reformed Breck Girl with the moral compass of a pitbull in heat. Federal officials have indicated there’s little chance of a retrial and already there’s chatter about how Edwards can rebuild his image and recast his lot in life.
Which when you think about it, shouldn’t be that tough of a trick to pull for a career huckster with a genuine talent for conning the public.
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