Clo,
The government really had NO choice but to go ahead with the trial as the US Attorney responsible for this case was a holdover from the Bush administration and if he had either been told to drop the case or had been replaced by an Obama appointee, all hell would have broken loose. The problem is, as I heard explained yesterday, that while to the average juror in the case, much of the activities and actions taken by John Edwards may at first glance appear to be illegal, in reality much of this stuff doesn't fall under any clear and concise criminal codes. And while you might want to convict the scumbag based on the unquestionably unethical nature of what he did, if you do, the conviction will never make it through an appeal, if the judge even accepts a verdict such as this.
I suspect that everyone in this case, with the exception of course of the people who would try to make 'political hey' with this, that if the jury came back with a 'not guilty' verdict on most, if not all counts, that the judge would go in to his chamber and let out a big sigh of relief.
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