Photo: AP
In an afternoon marked by confusion and miscommunication, the jury in the John Edwards trial was ordered Thursday to resume deliberations after announcing they had reached a verdict on just one of six counts.
Judge Catherine Eagles ordered the jury to keep trying to reach a unanimous verdict on the rest of the counts, granting the request of the prosecution.
The decision came an hour after the judge initially indicated the jury was ready to announce a verdict on all counts. This was apparently a miscommunication -- the jury only reached a verdict on one count, and was deadlocked on the rest.
In response, the defense argued for a mistrial. But Eagles, after considering the matter for about 15 minutes, told the attorneys for both sides that she would send the jurors back for more deliberations.
She apologized for calling them into the courtroom and then sending them back for more discussions. "I was obviously under the impression you had reached a verdict on all six counts," Eagles said.
The unusual scene played out on the ninth day of deliberations in the tense trial of one of the nation's most well-known politicians. Edwards himself appeared stressed when the jury was first called in, drinking water and at times holding his head in his hands -- he began to smile after the foreman said the jury was deadlocked on most of the counts.
Edwards is on trial in Greensboro, N.C., for allegedly skirting campaign finance law by using contributions to help keep secret his extramarital affair during the 2008 campaign.
The one count on which a verdict was reached pertains to a charge that Edwards received campaign contributions from wealthy donor Rachel "Bunny" Mellon in excess of the legal limit in 2008. It's unclear what the verdict actually was, as it was never read.
Prosecutor David Harbach, in arguing for an extension of deliberations Thursday afternoon, told the judge, "It appears that they are not finished."
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell, though, argued that the jury has "spent many hours" behind closed doors.
"It seems to me they don't need to be told to be any more conscientious," he said, before the judge denied his request for a mistrial.
The trial began more than a month ago. Edwards, a former U.S. senator, faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if convicted on all six counts.
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