GREENSBORO, N.C. - John Edwards’s team wrapped up their defense Wednesday without calling the former presidential candidate, his mistress, or his daughter to testify, a move specialists say was intended to shift focus from a political sex scandal to the nitty-gritty of campaign finance law.
“The defense wasn’t sexy, but the defense doesn’t want sexy. It wants an acquittal,’’ said Steve Friedland, a professor at Elon University School of Law and former federal prosecutor who has attended much of the trial.
Specialists said Edwards’s bare-bone defense, which lasted just over
two days, may be enough to avoid conviction on charges he authorized
more than $1 million secretly provided by two wealthy donors to help
hide an affair with pregnant mistress Rielle Hunter as he sought the
White House in 2008.
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Many observers believed Edwards would testify so the jury could hear directly from the former US senator and trial lawyer, who had a reputation for his ability to sway jurors.
But putting Edwards and Hunter on the stand would have exposed them to withering cross-examination about Edwards’s past lies and personal failings.
“The defense may very well have felt that their case was solid enough to go to the jury without the risk of the personal testimony of these witnesses, which would undoubtedly resurrect the salacious details of the affair for the jury,’’ said Catherine Dunham, another Elon law professor who has been attending the trial.
The defense also elected not to call Edwards’s oldest daughter, Cate, a 30-year-old lawyer who has sat behind her father nearly every day, as a character witness to help humanize him.
At one point during the trial, Cate Edwards ran out of the courtroom in tears during testimony about her cancer-stricken mother, Elizabeth, confronting her father about his extramarital affair.
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Also see:
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Closing arguments made in Edwards corruption trial
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Deliberations continue in John Edwards case