John Edwards won't be retried - New York News | NYC Breaking News
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The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday it will not retry former Democratic senator and presidential candidate John Edwards.
On May 31, Edwards was found not guilty on one count of violating campaign-finance laws, while a mistrial was declared on five remaining counts due to a hung jury.
The federal corruption trial centered on the cover-up of Edwards' affair and love child with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter during his second run for the presidency.
"We knew that this case -- like all campaign finance cases -- would be challenging," Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer wrote in a statement.
"The jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict on five of the six counts of the indictment, however, and we respect their judgment. In the interest of justice, we have decided not to retry Mr. Edwards on those counts."
Edwards was charged with accepting more than $900,000 from two campaign donors -- the 101-year-old Rachel "Bunny" Mellon and Edwards' 2008 finance chairman Fred Baron, who died in 2008 -- to hide Hunter from public view.
"While I do not believe that I did anything illegal or ever thought I was doing anything illegal, I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong," Edwards told reporters following the verdict and mistrial declaration.
The marathon trial featured nearly four weeks of testimony and arguments and nine days of deliberations.
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