Strong Arm of the Law: Guard to Help Retrieve Edwards Sex Tape
Please, follow along with the bouncing ball: the scandal, the book, the tape, the suit. This next episode in the never ending carnival ride that is the John Edwards sex scandal doesn't even directly include him; we are now more concerned with the supporting players, namely his former aid and tell-all author Andrew Young and his wife Cheri, who are being sued over custody (forgive the term) of the alleged sex tape featuring everyone's favorite ex-presidential candidate and his ex-paramour.
According to reports from local news source WRAL, Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones has ordered a security officer from Raleigh-based Risk Management Associates be present when Young retrieves the tape from its safe home in an Atlanta safety deposit box and to take control of said tape. Another officer will be dispatched to the Youngs' home to "scrub" the home computer of any remaining images of Rielle Hunter or her daughter with Edwards.
The suit was filed by Hunter to regain possession of the tapes and photos of her child that were supposedly left in a house the Youngs rented for Hunter in 2007. Hunter alleges in her lawsuit that the Youngs wanted the items to generate publicity for the book. She obtained a restraining order that prevents the couple from using the videos and photos.
The judge ordered the tapes and photos to be turned over to the court and found the Youngs in contempt last Friday for not immediately surrendering the materials. The Judge issued an additional order on Sunday, requiring the presence of the security officer to ensure all items become custody of the court.
The Youngs have claimed in their defense that they had only kept the items to verify details from Young's magnum opus, The Politician, and never intended to profit from them. Excepting, of course, any profits that might dribble out from details confirmed in the book. In addition, WRAL reports they claim in court papers that Hunter left the videos and photos in their home for more than two years, so she no longer can claim ownership over them since they were abandoned.
Young has said that he gave one copy of the tape to the FBI when he testified to a federal grand jury in Raleigh that has been investigating whether money from the Edwards' campaign was illegally used to cover up the affair.
File the whole proceeding -- all of it, under: "The expense of spirit in a waste of shame..." (Shakespeare, Sonnet 129).
Related Resources:
- Judge wants extra security for Edwards sex tape (WRAL News)
- John Edwards News: Frances Quinn and the Duties of Unmarried Fathers (FindLaw's Celebrity Justice)
- Restraining Order (FindLaw's LawBrain)