DA to decide whether ex-Edwards aide to face contempt charge
The Orange County district attorney will decide whether to charge a former aide to two-time presidential candidate John Edwards with contempt of court.
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Superior Court Judge Michael Morgan on Friday asked District Attorney Jim Woodall to investigate possible contempt charges against Andrew Young, his wife and the attorneys who defended him in a civil suit brought by Edwards' mistress, Rielle Hunter.
Hunter sued the Youngs two years ago, seeking to recover personal items she said they took from a house she was renting in Chatham County in 2007. The items included a purported sex video she recorded with Edwards during his 2008 presidential campaign and photographs of him with their daughter.
The two sides settled the lawsuit in February, and all copies of the sex tape were to be destroyed.
During the course of the suit, however, Hunter's attorneys alleged that the Youngs violated a state court order by turning some information over to federal prosecutors, including a deposition that Edwards made in the case.
A Superior Court judge had ordered that much of the evidence in the lawsuit to remain sealed.
The Youngs and their attorneys maintained that they were only complying with a federal subpoena in the criminal case against Edwards.
A jury last week acquitted Edwards of one charge of accepting illegal campaign contributions, and a federal judge declared a mistrial on five other charges because jurors couldn't reach a verdict after nine days of deliberations.
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