The jury trial of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has occasionally been a sordid, too-dramatic-for-fiction tale. Today, it came to a striking conclusion.
A jury has reached a verdict in the corruption trial of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen.Both McDonnells were found guilty on the majority of the 14 criminal charges they were faced with. The ex-governor was convicted on 11 counts, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and his wife was found guilty on eight counts. Maureen McDonnell was also convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding.
The Washington Post has done extraordinary reporting on this story from the outset, and this report from Rosalind Helderman and Matt Zapotosky is well worth your time.
The ruling is a stunning result for a man who was once a rising star in GOP politics, widely considered a likely candidate for national office.
McDonnell was facing 13 counts in all, and though it’s obviously small consolation, he was found not guilty on two of them. That said, the former Republican governor was convicted of 11 counts, including charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to obtain property to which he was not entitled.
U.S. District Judge James Spencer set sentencing for Jan. 6. Under the worst case scenario for McDonnell and his wife, the two could face “decades in federal prison, though their actual sentence could fall well short of that.”
An appeal is all but certain. McDonnell’s attorney briefly told reporters this afternoon he is “very disappointed but not deterred.”
As regular viewers of The Rachel Maddow Show know, we’ve been keeping a close eye on the case. We’ll have much more tonight, but in the meantime, here’s a segment from last night on the legal proceedings.
There’s also this segment from Tuesday, this one from last week, and my personal favorite, this gem on the curious McDonnell legal strategy, complete with an amazing “L.A. Law” reference.
Update: This piece has been revised with additional details that were not initially available.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."