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Subscribe to RSSThe judge in the John Edwards trial calls a closed door meeting with jurors on Friday. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
Updated at 5 p.m. ET: Jurors in the campaign finance corruption trial for former presidential candidate John Edwards went home for the holiday weekend without having reached a verdict, but not before the judge closed the courtroom for a private meeting with prosecutors and defense attorneys.
- Full trial coverage on msnbc.com
- Full transcripts of closing arguments
- Analysis by Hampton Dellinger
U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles told the lawyers that she had "a jury matter to discuss" with them. Thirty-seven minutes later, she sent the jurors home for the weekend, giving them extra instructions about the importance of not talking about the case outside their official deliberations.
She reminded them that they mustn't discuss the case with anyone — "as you walk back to your cars" or "in small groups."
Eagles said she could hold another closed session to talk "about this same juror issue" when deliberations resume at 9 a.m. ET Tuesday, after the Memorial Day holiday.
It will be the beginning of the second full week of deliberations in Edwards' trial in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, N.C., where he is charged with six felony counts of accepting about $1 million in illegal and unreported campaign donations from two wealthy supporters during his 2008 presidential campaign at a time when individual donations were limited to $2,300.
By Stacey Klein of NBC News in Greensboro, N.C., and M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com.
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Let the Games begin.....Jury Foreman scheduling conflict ???.....Alternate Juror flirting with the Defendant....what will he come up with next ???......Reminds me of and old Cartoon Jingle....And a new Nick-name for Edwards.....
"Felix the cat
The wonderful, wonderful cat
Whenever he gets in a fix
He reaches into his bag of tricks
______________________________
Felix the cat
The wonderful, wonderful cat
You'll laugh so much your sides will ache
Your heart will go pit-a-pat
Watching Felix the wonderful cat"
Can a moderator get rid of this advert, please.
My guess is this "juror issue" means there is an idiot serving on that jury. I've served as a juror three times. Two out of three of those experiences taught me: "there is always one in the bunch". There was absolutely no way to reason with those two people. They had their point of view, and no facts or deliberations were going to change their minds. The defense attorneys always look for this type of person to select for jury duty.
Sounds like they either have a juror who is trying to intimidate the other jurors or there is a juror who is not deliberating in good faith. Either that or they have a juror who did not anticipate the trial taking this long and has some kind of schedule problem with a prior commitment. I would not be surprised if we here news on Tuesday that one of the jurors has been replaced with an alternate.
Intel2 At least you have the time to participate in that type of circus. I am a very busy person, and every time a receive a letter in the mail for jury duty, I just throw it in the garbage can.
even though Edwards is a *ackass.,,,,,he didn't do anything illegal. The trial is just a waste of taxpayers money. He has created his own hell.
Mama always said life was a like a box of unorthodox chocolate.
It certainly sounds like Edwards committed illegal acts and that the evidence is strongly against him. He is a very slick guy and maybe not be found guilty but it would go a long way towards making the "many" others politicians think twice before doing the same thing.
If he had become friends with the Clintons he would have never had to go to trial.