(Image source:  CNN )

 

BY CELIA MURRAY  


Former presidential candidate John Edwards’ trial began Monday morning, and the media are recapping his fall from grace. CNN has the charges against him.

“In 2011 the government indicted Edwards on six counts including conspiracy, issuing false statements, and violating campaign finance laws. He faces up to thirty years in prison.”

Edwards’ troubles started during the 2008 campaign, when news broke the candidate had fathered a child with a mistress. CBS has more .

“John Edwards’ affair with Rielle Hunter while his wife Elizabeth was dying of cancer brought down a once promising political career."

The affair might have ended his political ambitions, but it takes more than philandering to put you in the defendant’s chair. The Los Angeles Times has a closer look at the specifics of the case.

“Prosecutors contend that bills paid by two Edwards benefactors, Rachel ‘Bunny’ Mellon, a banking heiress....and the late Fred Baron, a Texas lawyer, actually were unreported campaign contributions designed to cover up his affair... Edwards’ defense team contends that the payments were not political donations, but gifts from wealthy friends...”

Edwards’ mistress Rielle Hunter is also expected to take the stand, so the trial will likely air all of Edwards’ dirty laundry. A blogger for the Washington Pos t compared it to a public flogging.

“Many people believed deeply in Edwards and felt his series of betrayals personally; they cared about him, which made what he did all the worse. He was supposed to be a different kind of politician but wound up being the same old kind of politician. The trial then amounts to a cathartic moment for many of his one-time fans.”

Influential journalist Walter Shapiro called himself a card-carrying member of the Betrayed by John Edwards Alumni Association, but says he still doubted Edwards had actually committed a crime. But with the trial getting started, he says he’s changed his mind.

“...having spoken with both trial witnesses and election lawyers, I have been persuaded that there are enough question marks surrounding Edwards’s conduct to warrant a trial. And I think there’s a good chance he will be convicted.”

The trial is expected to last between two to six weeks.