Report: John Edwards said no to plea deal

(By JENNIFER EPSTEIN, Politico.com) - Former presidential candidate John Edwards turned down a deal last week that would have had him pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges – and avoiding the felony campaign finance charges he faces – because it also would have put him behind bars for six months, according to a report.

Edwards and his lawyers were considering accepting the deal, the Raleigh 'News and Observer' reported Sunday, but wanted the ability to argue for an arrangement that would allow him to spend time with Emma Claire and Jack, his two younger children with Elizabeth Edwards, who died in December. Under the deal, he would have pled guilty to three misdemeanor campaign law finance violations.

Edwards’s lawyers thought they wouldn’t be able to argue for him to go to a halfway house, be on house arrest or have weekend releases, sources told the paper, and without that assurance, they walked away from a deal. Prosecutors wanted him to serve six months in jail as part of the deal, the paper said.