Misleading Headline of the Day in John Edwards Case

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Fri Apr 27, 2012 at 08:54:54 PM EST
Tags: John Edwards (all tags)

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From Fox News: Sex tape at Edwards trial? Defense, prosecution wrangle over its admission. The article falsely states:

Opposing lawyers in the John Edwards trial wrangled Friday over whether to allow into evidence a sex tape of the former presidential candidate and allegations of an extramarital affair involving an ex-aide who is the prosecution's chief witness.

No one is trying to admit the tape. The battle is over testimony about the tape. Team Edwards wanted to question Andrew Young about statements he had made about the tape. [More]

MSNBC gets it right:

U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles instructed Edwards lawyer Abbe Lowell to continue his cross-examination of Young without mentioning the tape. After conferring with the judge, Lowell said he would wait to potentially discuss the tape when the defense presents its case.

....Defense attorneys had no intention of showing the tape to the jury but wanted to mention it in the context of the allegation that Young threatened to out Edwards' affair with Hunter in an August 2008 conversation on a dead-end road near Edwards' Chapel Hill estate.

The backstory to the state civil case and orders about destroying the case is here.

This is at least the second time Fox News has gotten a story about the sex tape wrong.

In other Edwards case news, Andrew Young finished his testimony and the Government then called his wife, Cheri Young, to testify. Court then recessed for the weekend. We'll see on Monday if Cheri has explanations for the questions that tripped up her husband, and how closely their stories match.

The Washington Post has more.

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Misleading Headline of the Day in John Edwards Case | 3 comments (3 topical)

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I think Fox got it right (none / 0) (#1)
by pcpablo on Sat Apr 28, 2012 at 06:22:01 AM EST

Fox is a world different from yours and mine. It is a tabloid reality, and facts don't stand in the way of a headline "if it bleeds, it leads".
You can't talk about a sex tape, you have to hold out the chance that you will actually see said tape.
The have learned well at the feet of Murdock.

Anybody really want to watch (none / 0) (#2)
by Mr Natural on Sun Apr 29, 2012 at 10:04:46 AM EST

Edwards' wrinkly old behind?

A Campaign Rots from the Head Down: (none / 0) (#3)
by Mr Natural on Sun Apr 29, 2012 at 11:12:12 AM EST

Lowell then set out, amid a blizzard of telephone transcripts, emails and bank statements, to demolish Young's claim that he had been acting under Edwards's instructions. He attempted to demonstrate that the lion's share of the money from the candidate's supporters went not to hiding Hunter, but to a life of luxury for Young and his family.Young admitted that he had spent $100,000 of the Hunter funds on a swimming pool, $100,000 on a home entertainment system, and thousands more on a ski trip, a Disney cruise, a holiday in Mexico and a visit to Legoland in California. As the photographs of luxury venues flashed on a screen before the jurors, a thin smile appeared on Edwards's lips.

- The Australian