Former Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards is a free man, as a North Carolina jury could not agree to convict the disgraced politician of charges related to misusing campaign funds.
After a nine-day trial that saw lurid details of Edwards' affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter come to light, the jury found Edwards not guilty of one count of accepting illegal campaign contributions.
The jury was deadlocked on five other charges, resulting in a mistrial.
Edwards will likely have a chance to pick up the pieces of his life -- analysts say the government is unlikely to pursue an expensive retrial.
"I want to make sure that everyone hears from me and from my voice that while I do not believe I did anything illegal or ever thought I was doing anything illegal, I did an awful lot that was wrong, and there is no one else responsible for my sins,'' Edwards told various media outlets after the verdict was announced.
A number of jurors appeared on network television Friday morning to explain their decision.
"I think he definitely had some knowledge of where the money was going,'' juror Ladonna Foster said this morning on NBC's Today Show. "The evidence wasn't there.''
"We all came in with our own preconceived notions, but then once the evidence was laid out, we had to separate them,'' Foster said.
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