Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards returned to the courtroom in North Carolina this week. Edwards, before entering politics as a senator from North Carolina, shot to prominence as a personal injury lawyer in the state and restarted his practice late last year. In his first case back in the courtroom, Edwards is part of a legal team representing a 4-year-old in a medical malpractice case. The Virginia boy was three months old during a hospital visit in 2009 and “the hospital is accused of failing to ensure the baby received adequate oxygen, resulting in a brain injury,” according to Greenville’s Daily Reflector. On his first day back on the job, Edwards questioned and selected potential jurors, according to the paper.
Edwards relaunched his law practice with his former law partner David Kirby late last year. In 2012, the former senator faced six felony charges stemming from his attempts to hide the pregnancy of Rielle Hunter, who he was having an affair with during his 2008 campaign. A jury acquitted Edwards on one of the counts of accepting illegal campaign contributions and deadlocked on the other charges. However, the trial, CNN points out, “dragged into the light messy details of a love affair Edwards had with a campaign employee [Hunter], while the wife who supported his ambitions was dying of cancer.” Edwards told Raleigh’s News and Observer last year that he didn’t think his past would prejudice juries against him.
