Hunter Biden has been convicted of three felonies for purchasing a handgun in 2018. Prosecutors alleged that the son of President Biden lied on a mandatory gun purchase form, claiming he had not unlawfully used drugs or been addicted to drugs.
The jury found Hunter Biden guilty of three charges: lying to a federal firearms licensee, falsely stating on an application that he was not a drug user, and illegally possessing the gun for 11 days.
The 12-member jury at the federal court in Wilmington, Delaware unanimously reached a verdict on each charge. Hunter Biden became the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted of a crime.
During the reading of the verdict in court, Hunter Biden looked straight ahead with no expression. After the verdict, he patted his defense lawyer on the shoulder.
Judge Maryellen Noreika sentenced him to a maximum of 25 years in prison, although as a first-time offender, he may not receive a sentence close to the maximum. It remains unclear whether the judge will order him to serve prison time.
Currently, both President Biden’s son and his primary political rival, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, have been convicted by the court. It seems that this year is not only a year of election rallies but also a year of court proceedings.
Both Hunter Biden and Trump believe they are political scapegoats. Former President Trump has consistently claimed that his conviction was “manipulated,” while Joe Biden stated that he would accept the verdict for his son without seeking a pardon.
Joe Biden avoided the Delaware federal court where his son was on trial and did not comment on the case to avoid creating the impression of interfering with the judicial process in criminal cases.
Democratic allies of the president are concerned that the trial and the current conviction could harm the 81-year-old man, as he has long been worried about the health and sobriety of his only living son.
Hunter Biden’s legal troubles are far from over. He is set to stand trial in California in September for failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes, and Congressional Republicans have indicated they will continue to pursue him. Previous efforts to impeach President Biden have reached a stalemate.
Prosecutors investigating the president’s son did not charge the president with any wrongdoing.
During the trial, prosecutors focused on highly personal testimonies and embarrassing evidence to emphasize the seriousness of Hunter Biden’s drug addiction issues.
Jurors heard testimonies from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and a former girlfriend, detailing his habitual use of crack cocaine and their failed efforts to help him get clean. Jurors saw images of the president’s son shirtless and disheveled in a dirty room, half-naked holding a crack pipe. They also viewed a video of him weighing cocaine on a scale.
Hunter Biden did not testify in court. Prosecutors played an audio excerpt from his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which jurors heard his voice. In the book, he talks about spiraling into depression after the death of his brother Beau in 2015 and his descent into drug addiction before eventually getting sober.
Prosecutors argued that this evidence was necessary to prove that 54-year-old Hunter was in the midst of a drug addiction when he purchased the gun, explaining why he lied when asked if he had “illegally used drugs or been addicted to drugs” by checking “no” on the form.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued that Hunter Biden’s mental state during the writing of the book was different from when he bought the gun, as he did not believe he was addicted at the time. Lowell pointed out to the jury that some of the issues on the gun transaction records were in the present tense, such as “do you illegally use drugs or are you addicted to drugs?”
Lowell believed that Hunter Biden may have thought he had an alcohol problem at the time but not a drug problem, and alcoholism did not necessarily hinder the purchase of a firearm.
Last year, Hunter Biden had hoped to resolve long-standing federal investigations by reaching an agreement with prosecutors, avoiding a trial close to the 2024 election. According to the agreement, as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years, he could admit to a lesser tax evasion charge and avoid prosecution in the gun case.
After Judge Noreika, nominated by Trump, raised questions about the unusual aspects of the proposed agreement, it was invalidated, leaving lawyers unable to resolve the matter.
Subsequently, in August last year, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Delaware prosecutor David Weiss as a special prosecutor. A month later, Hunter Biden was indicted.
Hunter Biden claimed that he was indicted because the Department of Justice succumbed to pressure from Republicans, who believed the son of the Democratic president was being given special treatment.
Beau’s widow, Hallie Biden, testified that the reason law enforcement questioned the handgun was because she discovered it in Hunter’s truck on October 23, 2018, and panicked by throwing it into a trash bin at Janssen’s Market. Coincidentally, a man inadvertently found the handgun in the trash bin.
After Beau’s death, Hallie Biden had a relationship with Hunter.
She eventually reported to the police, and the gun was retrieved from the man who had unknowingly taken it out of the trash bin along with other recyclables.
(Adapted from a report by PBS)