On Tuesday, defense attorneys helped explain that separation as they presented to jurors the sordid details of the couple's troubled marriage as part of a legal strategy some experts say may be a key part of the McDonnells' defense. The McDonnells are charged in a 14-count indictment with accepting more than $165,000 in loans, designer clothes, vacations and a Rolex watch from Jonnie Williams, the CEO of dietary supplements maker Star Scientific, in exchange for helping to promote Williams' business. Brownlee said the government went to great lengths looking for people to say bad things about his client, even sending investigators to interview former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, and "came up empty." Joseph E.