bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 419-6632
PITTSBORO -- A judge was moments away from sending Andrew Young to jail Tuesday for contempt of court but a last second argument by Young's attorney changed the judge's mind.
Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones had ordered Young to be taken into custody after he was unable to account for a flash drive he made containing photographs of Rielle Hunter, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards and their baby and after a writer claimed Young showed him the Edwards sex tape at Young's home in March 2009.
But after appearing to change his mind numerous times, Jones finally said he'd give Andrew Young one more chance to convince him he's not in contempt. That will come at a 2 p.m. Friday court appearance.
In a hearing at the Chatham County Courthouse that started in the morning and went into the evening, attorneys for Rielle Hunter argued that the Young and his wife, Cheri, have not been truthful with the judge and have not turned over an accurate list of people they showed the sex tape to or explained what happened to a flash drive containing about 150 photographs taken by Hunter.
The attorneys for the Youngs in turn argued that the Youngs have done their best to turn over every piece of material that may be associated with Hunter, including newspapers, receipts and utility bills.
But what they didn't turn over to the court was one of two flash drives that Andrew Young made of Hunter's personal photographs that he claims she uploaded to their computer while they were all living together in California while on the run from the media.
Young testified that when Edwards went to California to appear on a TV show with Jay Leno, Edwards spent two days with Hunter and her baby in a Hollywood hotel. Hunter, he said, was nervous about Edward's reaction to meeting the baby, but when she returned to home she was ecstatic because Edwards was happy about the baby.
In her excitement, Hunter showed Andrew and Cheri Young the photographs in her camera of Edwards holding the baby and sleeping next to it, Andrew Young testified.
Later, because Hunter was having problems with her computer, she uploaded the photographs to a laptop owned by the Youngs, Young said. He added that the computer was kept in a common area at the house the three people shared. He said the laptop was used by Hunter and the Youngs.
When Young discovered the photographs on the laptop, he said he downloaded copies to two flash drives and to a disc that he labeled "hmn copy 2 pix."
That raised the question of whether there was a "copy 1 of the disc," and the attorneys argued about that as well. Young testified he doesn't recall making a first copy and didn't think there was one.
Young testified that the reason he made copies of the photographs was to protect himself and his wife.
"My thought at that time because we were very, very scared of some very, very powerful people," Young testified. "My thought was to put them in lockboxes in case something happened to us."
He testified that he kept the two identical flash drives in a black gym bag that he carried with him as he, his wife and Hunter fled the media by driving up and down the coast of California staying at different hotels after photos were published of Edwards holding the baby in a hotel room.
The last time he saw the two flash drives in the bag was in California, he said.
The other issue, which caused Jones to hit his head with his hand and let out a groan, came when Hunter's attorney, Wade Barber, presented an affidavit from a writer named Robert Draper.
In the affidavit, Draper wrote that he was friends with the Youngs and was at their home on March 31, 2009 when Young offered to show him the sex tape.
Draper wrote that Young showed him the tape and that it was about 10 to 15 minutes long.
"As we watched the recording, Andrew Young said that the woman was pregnant. My impression was that Andrew Young sought to paint a picture of John Edwards and Rielle Hunter who is the woman he said was in the video, as despicable individuals and that he thought the pregnancy angle was important to his depiction.
"I did not believe then and do not believe now that the woman in the recording was pregnant or that the recording depicts a pregnant woman."
As afternoon turned into evening, Jones appeared to have trouble making up his mind about whether to put Andrew Young in jail. The attorneys for Hunter and the Youngs went back and forth and back and forth for hours arguing that yes, the Young should go to jail, and no, the Young shouldn't go to jail.
Just as Jones appeared to be ready to make a decision, he allowed the attorneys to continue their arguments. At one point, it appeared he was going to jail both Andrew and Cheri Young, but later said he wasn't going to put Cheri Young in jail, only Andrew Young.
Young's attorney, Robert Elliot, argued that Andrew Young has done everything he could do to find the items and if he was jailed, there was nothing else he could do to find them.
But in the end, Jones suddenly changed his mind and allowed Andrew Young to walk from the courthouse and go home.
