Jurors see politics in Fieger prosecution

DETROIT, June 3 (UPI) -- Jurors in Detroit say they suspect party politics played a role in the prosecution of high-profile lawyer Geoffrey Fieger.

Fieger, who is active in Democratic politics, was acquitted Monday on charges he and law partner Ven Johnson conspired to use so-called straw donors to funnel illegal campaign contributions to Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards in 2004.

Jurors told reporters after the verdict was delivered federal prosecutors weren't able to prove their case, and some were convinced Fieger and Johnson were targeted by the Republican-run Justice Department.

"The government was after them and they didn't do a very good job of

it," juror Al Rollins, 51, told the Detroit News. "He (Fieger) clearly didn't know what he did was illegal. He thought it was legal."

Other jurors said they saw no motivation for the defendants to go to such lengths to help Edwards.

"I can't imagine you would intentionally destroy your lives and the lives of the people around you," juror Maria Kruger, 42, told the Detroit Free Press.

Prosecutors denied there was any political motivation behind their case.