• Posted on Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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N. Carolina courts now holding John Edwards sex tape

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Andrew Young has turned over to authorities the tape that is the purported sex video featuring John Edwards and Rielle Hunter.

Young, accompanied by a security officer, retrieved the tape from an Atlanta safe deposit box, according to Wade Barber, an attorney for Hunter. The officer's presence was ordered by Superior Court Judge Abraham Penn Jones.

After Young got the tape, the N.C. Court of Appeals suspended Jones' order requiring the officer to be present and collect the contents of the safe deposit box.

Hunter filed court documents to get the tape and other documents back from Young, and the appeals court order is unclear as to whether Jones can continue to moderate the case at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

Jones had given Young and his wife until Wednesday to turn over the documents or face a trip to jail.

Barber said he believes the appeals court order only applied to Jones' order dealing with the extra security. Young's legal team disagrees.

"In my interpretation of the order, the Court of Appeals has stayed all the proceedings," said M. Gordon Widenhouse Jr., a lawyer for the Youngs.

On Sunday night, Jones ordered that the Youngs pay for a security officer to witness the opening of the safety deposit box and collect the contents as if they were evidence. Jones' order further demanded that the Youngs submit to a search of their home.

An attorney for the Youngs argued that Jones' order went too far and essentially required the couple to submit to an unconstitutional search of their home.

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