Ex-Senator acquitted on campaign finance charge

(Reuters) - Former Senator John Edwards' affair and child out of wedlock derailed a political rise that put him on the Democrats' 2004 White House ticket, but the one-time trial lawyer held his head high on Thursday after a North Carolina jury delivered his most personal victory yet.

Twelve jurors in the state Edwards represented in the U.S. Senate from 1999 to 2005 acquitted him on one count of accepting illegal campaign contributions given during his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination four years ago.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles declared a mistrial on five other counts because the jury was deadlocked about whether Edwards, 58, took money from two wealthy donors to keep voters from learning he was cheating on his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, with a campaign videographer.