Metro

No retrial expected for John Edwards, even though jurors think he’s guilty

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There’s “no way” the feds will retry John Edwards, sources told The Post yesterday — though jurors in the case said they believe the sleazebag senator is guilty but just weaseled out of trouble.

“[He] was just smart enough to hide it and we could not find the evidence,” juror Cindy Aquaro told NBC’s “Today” show.

Aquaro, fellow juror Ladonna Foster, and foreman David Recchion all raised their hands when asked if they thought Edwards was guilty of at least some charges.

Still, Aquaro said retrying Edwards isn’t worth the cost.

Sources said that officials in the Justice Department agree that there should be no retrial.

“There is no way. They’re not going to do this again,” said one source who was briefed on the case.

“It was a roll-the-dice case to begin with.”

Another source said: “The department went too far out on a limb here. This is not getting retried. Look, the FEC [Federal Election Commission] knew about it and didn’t think it was a crime.”

The former Democratic senator from North Carolina — and 2004 vice-presidential nominee — got off the hook Thursday when jurors deadlocked on five counts and acquitted on one.

Edwards was charged with using nearly $1 million in contributions to hide the fact that he fathered a girl with mistress Rielle Hunter while his late wife, Elizabeth, battled cancer.

There was no sign of life yesterday at Hunter’s house in Charlotte, NC. A worker at a church near her home said Hunter asked people there to keep an eye on it for her.

In Chapel Hill, NC, neighbor Alex Zeman said he and a buddy spotted Hunter leaving Edwards’ secluded home in a white BMW about 5 p.m. Thursday, around the time his trial ended.

Meanwhile, alternate juror Denise Speight also went on TV yesterday and denied flirting with Edwards from the jury box.

She told “Good Morning America” that reports about her smiles making the Capitol Hill horndog blush were “just the most funny thing I’ve ever heard.”

She said she had “no intention of flirting with John Edwards, and I don’t think he had any intentions of blushing or flirting back with me.”

Jurors yesterday acknowledged that “emotions got high” during their deliberations.

“There was a couple times that it did,” juror Jonathan Nunn told “Good Morning America.”

“But at the end of the day, we were all just one big, happy family, and that’s the way we tried to keep it.”

Additional reporting by Laura Brewer and Ian Batchelor in North Carolina