Jurors chosen to decide whether ex- presidential candidate John Edwards broke the law by using hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to hide an affair were seated in federal court in North Carolina.
U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles in Greensboro selected nine men and seven women from a final pool of 42 candidates. Opening statements are scheduled to begin today.
Edwards, 58, a two-time Democratic presidential candidate, is accused of illegally using almost $1 million in contributions from two wealthy donors to conceal his extramarital relationship with filmmaker Rielle Hunter.
“You’re the exclusive judges of the facts in this case,” Eagles told the panel of 16 jurors, which includes four alternates. “You’re only here to determine guilt or innocence as to the charges.”
The Federal Election Act prohibits the use of campaign funds for personal expenses and caps the amount individuals may contribute to candidates. Edwards, who fathered a child with Hunter, faces a maximum five-year prison term for each of the six counts against him, including conspiracy, false statements and accepting illegal contributions.
Edwards, who has maintained his innocence, argues that the funds in question weren’t campaign donations and came from his friendships with a 101-year-old multimillionaire heiress, Rachel Mellon, and Fred Baron, a now-deceased trial attorney.
The trial should last six weeks, said Eagles, a former state court judge who was appointed to the federal bench in 2010 by President Barack Obama.
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