FORMER US PRESIDENTIAL candidate John Edwards will not face a re-trial on charges of fraud following a mistrial last month.
Jurors acquitted Edwards of one count of accepting illegal campaign contributions, but were deadlocked on the other five counts, prompting the judge to declare a mistrial on them.
Prosecutors have now announced that they do not intend to bring Edwards to court again to face those five counts.
Edwards had been accused of intentionally accepting and using donations above the legal limit to conceal his pregnant mistress during his 2008 campaign for the presidency. He denied the accusations, with his lawyer saying that Edwards never knew that taking the donations violated campaign finance law.
Today his legal counsel issued a joint statement saying they are pleased with the decision not to seek a second trial, but added that they believe the outcome would have been the same:
While John has repeatedly admitted to his sins, he has also consistently asserted, as we demonstrated at the trial, that he did not violate any campaign law nor even imagined that any campaign laws could apply. We are very glad that, after living under this cloud for over three years, John and his family can have their lives back and enjoy the peace they deserve.
The trial exposed details of Edwards’ personal life which emerged while his wife Elizabeth Edwards was dying of cancer. Today their grown-up daughter Cate, who showed support for her father throughout the trail, tweeted her relief at the prosecutors’ decision:
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