ILess than a week after a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump, another historic trial is set to begin in Wilmington, Delaware. Hunter Biden’s trial on federal gun charges is scheduled to begin on Monday, June 3, the first criminal trial for the son of a sitting U.S. president. He is accused of three serious firearms offenses stemming from purchasing a gun in 2018 during a time when he said he was struggling with drug addiction.
He pleaded not guilty.
The trial is expected to last up to two weeks and comes as his father, President Joe Biden, is in a tight race for the presidency with Trump, who was found guilty of 34 criminal charges in a Manhattan fraud case.
Here’s what you should know about the Hunter Biden trial.
What are the charges?
The Justice Department accused Hunter Biden of illegally purchasing a handgun while using illicit drugs and of lying both on a federal form and to a firearms dealer about his drug use when he purchased the gun in October 2018. He publicly admitted that was struggling with a crack addiction during this period.
“All my energy revolved around smoking drugs and arranging to buy drugs — feeding the beast,” he wrote in his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things.”
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges and his lawyers have filed several requests to dismiss the case. During the trial, federal prosecutors plan to present photos, statements and messages to show that Hunter Biden was using illegal drugs at the time he purchased a Colt Cobra 38SPL and did not disclose this on the gun purchase form, as required by federal law. law.
To secure a conviction, prosecutors will need to prove to jurors that Hunter Biden knowingly made a false statement on the federal form, that the statement was intended to mislead the seller about a fact material to the sale, and that he knew it was unlawful. user or addict of controlled substances.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers suggested they could argue in court that he had recently finished rehab and may not have considered himself a drug user at the time he purchased the gun. “The terms ‘user’ or ‘addict’ are not defined on the form and were not explained to him,” Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s lead defense attorney, wrote in court documents filed in May. “Someone, like Mr. Biden, who had just completed an 11-day rehab program and lived with a sober companion thereafter, could certainly believe that he was not a user or addict in the present tense.”
The gun charges were filed after a years-long investigation by Justice Department Special Counsel David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware appointed by former President Donald Trump. Weiss initially began investigating Hunter Biden’s tax affairs in December 2020, weeks after Joe Biden won the 2020 election. According to to Washington PublishFederal agents gave the U.S. attorney in Delaware information that Hunter Biden responded “no” to a question on a 2018 gun purchase form asking whether he was using illicit drugs.
What penalties could Hunter Biden face?
If convicted on all three counts, Hunter Biden faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. However, it is rare for defendants to receive the maximum sentence when they are first-time offenders, like the president’s son.
By law, lying on a firearms transaction record is a crime and a conviction on this charge can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years on each count. The illegal purchase of a revolver while using illicit drugs carries a maximum prison sentence of up to five years. But legal experts say it is atypical for prosecutors to bring charges for the offense. Some defendants in similar previous cases faced no prison time.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Delaware will ultimately decide the sentence if Hunter Biden is convicted by the jury, which consists of 12 New Castle County residents.
Was there a plea deal for these charges?
Hunter Biden had previously reached an agreement with the Justice Department to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges in a separate case and avoid prosecution on the gun charge if he was willing to undergo probation, enter into a diversion program and remain drug free for 24 years. months and agrees to never own a firearm again. But that deal fell apart in court in July 2023 after Judge Noreika refused to sign off on the plea deal.
Congressional Republicans at the time criticized the Justice Department for its efforts to pursue the plea deal with Hunter Biden, with Rep. James Comer, Republican of Kentucky and chairman of the House Oversight Committee, calling it a “slap in the palm of the hand.” hand” that revealed a “two-tier justice system.”
And the laptop?
Messages stored on Hunter Biden’s laptop after he bought the gun could be brought to trial. Emails and photos of his laptop were spread online after he allegedly left it at a Delaware repair shop and the hard drive was acquired by Trump loyalist Rudy Giuliani.
Hunter Biden’s legal team plans to raise questions about the authenticity of the laptop files at trial, but prosecutors have said there is no evidence the data was compromised. In one of the text messages that prosecutors plan to use as evidence, according to court records, Hunter Biden allegedly wrote that he was waiting for his “dealer named Mookie” the day after purchasing the gun. The next day, Hunter Biden allegedly wrote, “I was sleeping in a car smoking crack on 4th and Rodney.”
Why else is Hunter Biden being investigated?
In addition to the three charges in Delaware, Hunter Biden also faces federal tax charges in Los Angeles for allegedly failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes on foreign corporate income during the years he acknowledged being addicted to drugs. He was charged in December by a federal grand jury in California with tax evasion, failure to report and pay taxes and filing a false or fraudulent tax return. He pleaded not guilty.
That case is expected to go to trial in September, during the final stretch of his father’s campaign season.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
