I agree that it's more problematic when the accused is a public official. I also believe that public officials that get convicted of work-related, or work-affecting crimes should have an additional penalty attached, for "Breach of Public Trust," or something of that nature.
That said, years ago, I sat on a jury. Just looking at the defendant, we could tell he was guilty, of all charges. State's case was so bad, we had to let him go, on 5 of 7 charges. Afterwards, the Judge told us that he'd previously entered a guilty plea, then retracted it.
If we get upset about some generic guy off the street getting his life and livelihood turned upside down for x years for a charge for which he's acquitted, we need to extend that upsetness to this sort of thing, too.
Remember - in the eyes of a significant portion of the people in the US, many of our stands and opinions here are either insane, frightening, or criminal. Thought crime, yes, but still....can't take chances.