WILMINGTON, Delaware – Jury deliberations began Monday in the federal criminal trial of Biden Hunter after prosecutors presented what they described as “damning” evidence against the president’s son as he faces gun charges.
The panel deliberated for about an hour in the late afternoon before being sent home.
Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s attorney, urged the jury to find his client innocent, arguing that prosecutors only offered “speculation or conjecture” — not hard evidence — that his client was using drugs around the time he bought a Colt. Cobra revolver in a gun store in Wilmington.
Prosecutor Leo Wise said there was a mountain of evidence that he was an active addict at the time, including in Hunter Biden’s own book.
“The evidence was personal, it was ugly, it was overwhelming,” Wise told the jury, recounting the evidence that special counsel David Weiss’ office has presented since the trial began last week.
Wise also appeared to recognize members of the Biden family who appeared in court, including first lady Jill Biden, who appeared again on Monday.
“The people sitting in the gallery are not evidence,” he said, adding that while jurors may recognize some participants from the news or the community, “respectfully, none of that matters.”
“No one is above the law,” he said, adding that evidence shows Hunter Biden broke the law by claiming he was not a drug user when he purchased a gun from a Delaware gun store in 2018.
The closings began after Lowell rested his case in the morning without calling his client to the stand. Lowell said Friday that a decision would be made on whether his client would testify over the weekend.
Hunter Biden is charged in Wilmington federal court with three criminal charges linked to possession of a weapon while using narcotics and pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors say Hunter Biden lied when he filled out a federal form to buy the gun in October 2018 and said he was not a drug user or addict. Lowell suggested that his client did not “knowingly” deceive anyone because at the time he did not consider himself an addict or drug user.
Wise rejected the claim in his closing.
“He knew he was using drugs, that’s what the evidence shows,” he said, referring to Hunter Biden’s text messages about drug use and large cash withdrawals during that period.
“We see in these messages him buying drugs, telling other people he was using drugs,” Wise said. He also recounted testimony from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and two former romantic partners about his frequent crack use. One of them, Zoe Kestan, testified that at times he smoked crack every 20 minutes. Wise also pointed to excerpts from Hunter Biden’s memoir where he acknowledged his battles with drug addiction.
Hunter Biden was a “habitual drug user” from 2015 to 2019, Wise said, and that was when he purchased the gun.
Lowell told jurors in his closing argument that the fact that Hunter Biden wrote after the fact about being an addict in his book, published in 2021, does not mean he knew he was an addict during the period he described from 2015 to 2019.
He also said it was “unfair” of prosecutors to use his client’s words about being an addict out of context.
“Hunter did not ask anyone to apologize or forgive him for his mistakes,” Lowell said.
Prosecutors, he argued, had not met their burden of proving their case beyond a reasonable doubt. “With this very high burden, it is time to close this case,” he said. He ended his closing argument by reading a passage from Hunter Biden’s book. “Remembering all these things feels like a terrible betrayal of where I am now,” Lowell said, quoting his client. “They provoke feelings of shame and guilt.”
During his rebuttal argument, prosecutor Derek Hines said Hunter Biden chose to record an audiobook about his conduct and chose to lie on the federal gun form about his drug use. He accused Lowell of promoting a “fictional story” and said Hunter Biden knew full well he was an addict.
“It may seem obvious, but someone who puts a crack pipe in their mouth every 15 minutes knows they are addicted,” Hines said.
The jury began deliberating around 3:30 p.m. ET.
Lowell rested the defense’s case around 10:30 a.m. ET.
Prosecutors then called FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen for brief rebuttal testimony. Jensen was the first witness called by prosecutors in the case, and testified about information found on Hunter Biden’s computer, phone and tablet.
She was asked Monday about messages Hunter Biden sent to Hallie Biden in the period around the gun purchase, including one in which he indicated he was meeting with a drug dealer. Lowell suggested that her client was lying about her location because she didn’t want to see Hallie Biden, the widow of her brother Beau. Jensen testified that geolocation data indicated that Hunter Biden was physically in the areas where he told Hallie Biden he was.
Lowell stated that these texts were “jochastic”.
Hallie Biden was involved in a romantic relationship with Hunter Biden at the time he purchased the gun — years after her husband’s death — and she testified last week about throwing the gun away after discovering it in his car.
After Jensen finished testifying, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika read her instructions to jurors about what they would need to consider as they begin deliberating.
O trial has begun on June 3, just days after former President Donald Trump, who faces President Joe Biden, was convicted in New York state court of falsifying business records.
In addition to Jill Biden, the president’s brother James Biden and sister Valerie Biden Owens were also in court for closing. James Biden was mentioned as a possible defense witness, but was not called to testify.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
