Lawyers for John Edwards argued in a court filing yesterday that the federal government hasn’t established that there was a conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws and that what they consider hearsay statements shouldn’t be allowed. They say the former aide Andrew Young and donors Rachel Mellon and Fred Baron had agreements in place to exchange money but that there’s no evidence Edwards had an agreement to commit a crime:
There is no question that there was an agreement between Young and Ms. Mellon, and between Young and Mr. Baron, to give Young money. There also is no question that Mr. Edwards and Young agreed to hide the truth about Ms. Hunter’s baby, and that Mr. Edwards knew and agreed that Young should claim that he (and not Mr. Edwards) was the father. There is no evidence, however, that Young believed that he had an agreement with Mr. Edwards to commit a crime; there is no evidence that Ms. Mellon believed that she was committing a crime or violating the law; there is no evidence that Mr. Baron believed he was concealing Mr. Edwards’ child or that he was committing a crime; and, there is no evidence that Mr. Huffman believed he was committing or facilitating a crime.
