RICHMOND, Va. – After former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell took the stand in his corruption trial, a narrative worthy of a nighttime soap opera got even juicier.
Jurors had already heard how his wife, Maureen, had turned the Executive Mansion into a house of workplace horrors with her incessant yelling at employees. Then Bob McDonnell laid bare the most intimate details of his crumbling marriage. The wow moment came when the defense introduced McDonnell's letter to his wife begging her to work with him to repair the relationship.
Marital discord is a key element of the defense as the McDonnells fight charges that they accepted more than $165,000 in gifts and loans from a businessman for promoting his company's dietary supplements. The theory is that they weren't communicating, so they couldn't have conspired.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
