John Edwards’s Federal Trial Over Use of Campaign Funds Moved to January

Former U.S. presidential candidate John Edwards, accused of accepting illegal campaign contributions to hide an extramarital affair, had his trial moved to January from October.

U.S. Chief District Judge James A. Beaty Jr. in Winston- Salem, North Carolina, yesterday granted a request by Edwards to postpone the trial because of the volume of material that must be reviewed.

“A continuance is necessary in order to ensure defendant adequate time for preparation for trial, given the circumstances in this case, particularly the unusually large volume of discovery to be reviewed,” Beaty said.

Edwards, who was Democrat John Kerry’s running mate in the 2004 election, was the subject of a two-year investigation into whether he used more than $925,000 in contributions to conceal his relationship with filmmaker Rielle Hunter.

The former North Carolina senator on Sept 6 sought to dismiss the charges, saying prosecutors abused their authority and that the grand jury proceedings were flawed and the indictment failed to state an actual crime. Beaty delayed until January consideration of Edwards’s request to dismiss the case

The case is U.S. v. Edwards, 11-00161, U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina (Greensboro).

To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net