Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, wife found guilty on federal corruption charges A federal jury has convicted the Republican ex-governor on 11 public corruption charges, and his wife, Maureen, on 9, deciding that the cash and gifts they received from a former nutritional supplement mogul constituted bribery.
BY Adam Edelman
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Thursday, September 4, 2014, 3:04 PM
Updated: Thursday, September 4, 2014, 4:38 PM
 Steve Helber/AP Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, center, is mobbed by reporters after leaving a federal courthouse in Richmond with his son and wife, former first lady Maureen McDonnell. Sentencing for the state's former first couple is scheduled for Jan. 6.
Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and his wife were convicted on multiple public corruption charges Thursday, with a federal jury deciding that the ex-pol and his spouse took bribes to promote a sketchy nutritional supplement.
McDonnell was found guilty of 11 corruption-related charges, while his wife, Maureen, was found guilty of eight corruption-related charges and one obstruction of justice charge. The couple had jointly faced a 13-count indictment including charges related to corruption, bribery and fraud.
It took the jury, comprised of seven men and five women, about 18 hours over nearly three days to reach the verdict. According to reporters in the courtroom, the McDonnells began sobbing as the decision was read.
The McDonnells will appeal the verdict, their attorney told reporters following the verdict.
McDonnell, a prominent Republican once rumored as a 2012 vice presidential candidate, and his wife could now face decades in federal prison. Their sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 6.
During the trial, chock full of scintillating testimony about the power duo's deteriorating marriage, federal prosecutors alleged that Virginia’s former first couple pocketed more than $165,000 in cash and gifts, including designer dresses and watches, from a former nutritional supplement mogul to promote a tobacco-based product the company used to manufacture called Antabloc.
 Steve Helber/AP Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell leaves the courthouse Thursday with his son after being convicted on 11 counts of corruption. Prosecutors had alleged that McDonnell and his wife, Maureen accepted more than $165,000 in cash and gifts in return for political favors.
The McDonnells, prosecutors had claimed, were in deep debt and were in no position to refuse the gifts, given to them by former Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams.
Throughout the case, the McDonnells, who were tried together but hired separate attorneys, did not deny receiving cash and gifts from Williams, but repeatedly contended that they did not do anything in exchange for them.
The five-week trial played out on multiple occasions as a bizarre tale of the McDonnell’s crumbling marriage and featured lurid testimony about their blowout arguments and deep financial woes.
Defense attorneys for the McDonnells had contended that the couple couldn't possibly have conspired to take the money and dole out political favors because their own marriage was in such turmoil. At one point lawyers said that the McDonnells hadn't talked in weeks and were not living together.
But at the trial wore on, the family's dire finances became a focal point, with prosecutors arguing that their tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt served as circumstantial evidence that the couple was in desperate need of a cash infusion.
 Steve Helber/AP Former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell, right, arrives at federal court Tuesday at the conclusion of her and her husband’s corruption trial.
Following the verdict Thursday, McDonnell was whisked out of the courthouse behind his team of lawyers, but he stopped to make a brief statement before being driven away.
“All I can say is my trust belongs in the Lord,” he said, going on to thank reporters for “the way you’ve handled this.”
His wife did not speak and left in a separate vehicle.
The charges, and ensuing five-week trial, marked that first time in history a Virginia governor, sitting or former, had been charged with a crime. The verdict subsequently marked the first time a Virginia governor had ever been convicted of a crime.
After the guilty verdict was read, lawmakers across both parties offered their sympathy to McDonnell.
“I am deeply saddened by the events of the trial that ended in today’s verdict, and the impact it has had on our Commonwealth’s reputation for honesty and clean government,” Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who replaced McDonnell is January, said in a statement. “I will continue to pray for the McDonnell family and for everyone who was affected by this trial.”
Virginia Senate Majority Leader Thomas Norment, Jr., meanwhile, said he did “not personally agree with this verdict of the decision by the Department of Justice to prosecute the McDonnells.”
“The Commonwealth and the McDonnell family have suffered greatly during this investigation and trial. Virginia politics will be forever changed from this experience, and I look forward to all of us being able to move on and move forward,” he said.
The U.S. Department of Justice, however, hailed the guilty verdicts, saying in a statement that the McDonnells “turned public service into a money-making enterprise.”
"Today’s convictions should send a message that corruption in any form, at any level of government, will not be tolerated,” the department said.
With News Wire Services |
