HILLSBOROUGH -- A judge rescheduled a hearing to consider whether Andrew Young, the former campaign aide for John Edwards, should be held in contempt of court for turning over to federal investigators sealed documents and perhaps a copy of a purported sex tape involving the former U.S. senator and presidential candidate.
Young, the campaign aide who wrote a tell-all book about Edwards' 2008 campaign for president, is in a legal battle with Rielle Hunter, the videographer with whom the candidate had an extra-marital affair and a child.
Judge Michael Morgan held a brief hearing this morning to consider several procedural matters related to the case. He said he had to appoint a prosecutor to handle the criminal allegations associated with the case.
Hunter sued Young and his wife in 2010, accusing them of taking some of her belongings, including the sex tape.
That legal argument, based in superior court in Orange County, where the Youngs live, spilled into federal criminal court after it was revealed that federal prosecutors had received the tape and other information that was supposed to be under seal.
Hunter accused Young, his wife and their lawyers of violating a court order and asked that they be placed in contempt of court.
Superior Court Judge Michael R. Morgan signed an order last fall, saying he had heard enough evidence to hold a hearing on the accusations.
Then in November, he delayed the hearing.
Though the case is not directly linked to the criminal allegations against Edwards, 58, the two legal matters are intertwined.
Edwards is accused of flouting campaign finance laws by secretly obtaining nearly $1 million from two wealthy supporters to hide his affair with Hunter and her pregnancy during his 2008 presidential bid.
Federal prosecutors contend the money, which paid for Hunter's housing, travel and living expenses, were campaign contributions, which were not reported and exceeded legal limits.
Andrew Young is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution.
Edwards has said he did not break the law.
His attorneys argue the payments were gifts that did not pass through Edwards. They argued the candidate, who had great personal wealth, was trying to hide his extramarital affair and daughter from that relationship from his wife.
As federal prosecutors spent two years investigating that matter, Hunter and Young engaged in their legal battle.
Not only did Hunter accuse Young, who once claimed falsely to be the father of her baby, of taking her property, she also argued that he should have to share any profits from his tell-all book with her.
Edwards had to sit for a deposition in that case, called on to answer questions under oath for Young and his attorneys.
That deposition, the sex tape and other property associated with that legal battle were to be sealed from public scrutiny, according to a judge's order.
But last year, an attorney for the Youngs said the couple was ordered to turn over sealed materials from the civil to prosecutors pursuing campaign finance charges against Edwards.
The order, according to the Youngs' attorneys, was signed by Louise W. Flanagan, a federal judge in North Carolina's Eastern District. It ordered the Youngs to turn over the materials and not discuss the issue with anyone other than Judge Carl Fox, the state superior court judge assigned to the case at the time.
Fox recused himself from hearings about the contempt allegations. He could be called as a witness.
An attorney for the Youngs said today the couple had not been consulted about whether to turn over the materials related to the civil case. It was a decision among the lawyers.
