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From the start, though, Edwards' lawyers painted the prosecution as politically motivated and several campaign finance experts said that even if he had known about the money flowing to his mistress, he wasn't violating the law. Melanie Sloan, the executive director for the campaign watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said the ex-North Carolina senator never should have been charged. No federal candidate had ever before been tried over payments from a third party that flowed to the politician's mistress. "It was a colossal waste of time and taxpayer money," Sloan said. "Now maybe the Justice Department can get back to prosecuting people who actually broke the law." Edwards denied doing anything illegal in his statement after the mistrial but acknowledged he had done much that was wrong. "There is no one else responsible for my sins," Edwards said, before expressing hope for his future. "I don't think God's through with me. I really believe he thinks there's still some good things I can do." Likely not in politics, though, with image experts advising he should stay out of the public eye. "I think John Edwards has no political future. Nada, zip," said Emory University political science professor Merle Black soon after the mistrial. Experts say he should stay out of the public eye for a time and concentrate on his family, something he said in his statement that he would like to do. He has one grown daughter, 30-year-old Cate, a teenage daughter, Emma Claire, and his youngest son, Jack. His son, Wade, died in a car accident in 1996. He also indicated he spends time with the daughter, now 4, whom he fathered with Hunter. He called Francis Quinn Hunter "precious." After two years of public denials, Edwards announced he was the father of Hunter's baby in January 2010. The girl lives with her mother in Charlotte. Cate Edwards reacted to Wednesday's decision through her Twitter account. She sat behind her father in the courtroom nearly every day of his lengthy trial. "Big sigh of relief," Cate Edwards tweeted. "Ready to move forward with life."
[Associated
Press;
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