Jeffrey Toobin On John Edwards Trial: 'This Is A Mess' (VIDEO)

Jeffrey Toobin On John Edwards: 'This Is A Mess'

CNN's Jeffrey Toobin was characteristically candid about the latest shambolic developments in the John Edwards corruption trial.

After days of protracted deliberation, the jury revealed on Thursday that they had reached a unanimous verdict on just one of the six counts that Edwards has been charged with. The judge in the trial sent the jury back to deliberate further. (UPDATE: The jurors returned to the courtroom later during the day. Edwards was found not guilty of one of six charges. The jury could not reach a verdit on the other five counts, leaving the judge to declare a mistrial.)

Speaking just after the announcement, Toobin was frank.

"This is a mess," he said. "This is not how a trial is supposed to end ... I assure you that the legal term for this is 'a mess.' Juries are supposed to resolve an entire case."

Toobin said that the prosecution could theoretically accept a partial verdict and then retry Edwards on the other counts, but that this would be a "cumbersome, expensive ... some would say unfair" way to go about things.

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