Prosecutors will drop corruption case against former Virginia Gov. McDonnell

Prosecutors will not attempt to retry former Virginia governor Robert McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, on corruption charges, ending a four-year saga that rocked the Commonwealth's political class and cut short the rise of a Republican star, according to a court filing.

The filing Thursday asks that the case be sent to a lower court, where prosecutors will formally file a motion to dismiss.

The decision is a major victory for the former governor, who has always maintained that he did nothing illegal in his relationship with a nutritional supplement salesman. It's a blow to both the U.S. Attorney's Office – which had recommended pressing forward with the case to Justice Department higher-ups – and advocates for strict enforcement of anti-corruption legislation.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia did not immediately return a request for comment, and attorneys for McDonnell could not immediately be reached.

William Burck of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, attorney for Maureen McDonnell, said: "We thank the Department of Justice for the care with which they reviewed the case. We are thrilled and thankful that Maureen can now move on with her life." Legal analysts have said Maureen McDonnell's fate was tied to her husband's.

The decision to walk away from the case comes less than a week after it was publicly reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia – which brought the case against McDonnell – had recommended pressing forward to Justice Department higher-ups. It means that they were either overruled, or convinced to change their minds.

Some legal analysts said dropping the case is appropriate.

"The decision not to prosecute vindicates those who believed all along that this case was an inappropriate extension of the bribery and gratuity statute," said Jacob Frenkel of the firm Dickinson Wright. "Sometimes it takes the Supreme Court to rein in prosecutorial overreaching, and that is exactly what has occurred here."

While McDonnell no longer must fear prison, he may find the cloud over his reputation hard to remove. The Supreme Court called his actions "tawdry." In a recent Washington Post poll, two-thirds of Virginia adults surveyed said he should not run for elected office again. Even 60 percent of Republicans would like to see him remain in private life. A plurality of Virginians also thought the Supreme Court was wrong to overturn the verdict.

McDonnell and his wife were convicted of taking more than $175,000 in loans and gifts – a Rolex watch, vacations, partial payments for a daughter's wedding reception among them – in exchange for helping Richmond businessman Jonnie Williams Sr. advance a dietary supplement his company had developed.

The McDonnells arranged to connect Williams with state officials, let him throw a luncheon at the governor's mansion to help launch the product and shape the a guest list at a mansion reception meant for health-care leaders.

However, clinical tests of the product at state universities were never conducted despite Williams' prodding. The Supreme Court ruled that what McDonnell did for Williams fell under the standard business of a public official helping a constituent.

"Conscientious public officials arrange meetings for constituents, contact other officials on their behalf, and include them in events all the time," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote.

Experts have predicted the ruling will help both Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who is awaiting an appeals court ruling in a corruption case, and former New York State Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, D, who aims to overturn his corruption conviction.

But Patrick O'Donnell of Harris, Wiltshire and Grannis, which filed an amicus brief arguing that the corruption law involved is irredeemably vague, suggested prosecutors around the country may simply to try to push the narrower limits.

"It's very hard to predict whether it chastens them or they return to the path they were on when honest services were invented," he said.

The scandal rocked Richmond, where until McDonnell's conviction politicians were allowed to take any gift from lobbyists and others who sought to influence their work. Last year, lawmakers limited what any individual can give to $100 a year.