Op-ed:

John Edwards got away with it all...or did he?

By: Diane Sori

Simply put...our jury system screwed up again as John Edwards got away with it all!   

Following in the same footsteps as the OJ trial by ignoring all the evidence, another group of our peers let yet another low-life off the hook.  Yet we must accept this just like we accepted the OJ verdict, because that is our jury system...for better or worse.

While Edwards was found NOT guilty on the major count of knowingly engaging in campaign finance fraud, and with the jury deadlocked on the other five counts, Judge Catherine Eagles was forced to declare a mistrial.

Now the decision has to be made by the prosecution whether to retry Edwards or let it go.  I say let it go because I don’t want to see one more penny of our taxpayer dollars spent on this slime ball.  We all know that what he did is beyond reprehensible but NO punishment he could ever be given is worse than him having to look at himself in the mirror every day and see the face of a sinner looking back at him.

Let God decide his fate now as it’s no longer our place to do so.

John Edwards just couldn’t keep it in his pants while his wife was dying of cancer.  He had an affair that resulted in a child, then went on to lie to his wife and to the public after the affair was exposed.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent to cover it up, and the jury just didn’t get it.  But none of that matters as the court of public opinion has already reached its verdict...guilty on all charges.

But with that guilty verdict what should the adjudication be...jail time, a fine, what?  No punishment we public jurors could ever give John Edwards will bring Elizabeth back, no punishment will undo the affair, and no punishment will ever cause this man to show even a moniker of true remorse, as witnessed by his dog and pony excuse of an apology.  “I did an awful, awful lot that was wrong,” Edwards said, all the while insisting that none of it was illegal.  “Thank goodness we live in a country that has the kind of system that we have.”

Yeah, John, thank goodness you were able to pull the wool over the jury’s eyes is more like it.

And even with all this let’s not forget the innocent victims... the children, his three with his wife Elizabeth, and his love child with mistress Rielle Hunter; the woman who knew he was married; the woman who knew how sick Elizabeth was and that her time was coming to an end; the woman who couldn’t wait until she was gone to sleep with this poor excuse of man; what becomes of the children if Edwards is retried, convicted, and sent to jail.

Elizabeth’s children have already lost their mom, are they to lose their dad also?  No matter how we public feel about John Edwards, the fact remains that his children still love him and have forgiven him.  What good would it do to take away their father also?

And as horrible as mistress Rielle Hunter is, we cannot take our anger out on the innocent child of their illicit affair.

John Edwards is finished; his reputation lower than that of a pig in mud; he will forever be an outcast and pariah amongst the moral, and rightly so.  Maybe that is punishment enough...only time will tell.