Twelve Delaware residents are now deliberating whether Hunter Biden lied about using illicit drugs when he obtained a gun in 2018 and then possessed it illegally for more than a week.
President Biden’s son faces three criminal charges stemming from the purchase. Prosecutors say Hunter Biden lied when he marked “no” on a federal gun purchase form asking whether he illegally used or was addicted to narcotics or other drugs, but his lawyers say he – who had just completed a stint in rehab – I believed he was telling the truth.
If the federal jury finds Hunter Biden guilty, it would mark the first criminal conviction of the son of a sitting president. The president recently reiterated that he would not pardon his son if he were convicted.
The trial, which lasted just over a week, focused on his crack addiction. The president and his son have been open about Hunter Biden’s struggle with addiction, which worsened after his brother Beau Biden’s death from brain cancer in 2015.
The memoir where he detailed these struggles, “Beautiful Things,” was used as a key piece of evidence and narrative vehicle for prosecutors aiming to show that Hunter Biden’s addiction never abated — nor did he think it had.
Hunter Biden did not testify in his defense, although jurors were instructed they cannot use that decision against him.
During closing arguments on Monday, prosecutors argued that Hunter Biden “lost control” of his drug use, which they alleged began “years before” the gun purchase and “continued for months afterward.”
Hunter Biden’s lawyers emphasized during closings that he did not believe he was lying about the shape of the gun because of his recent efforts to stay clean, also noting that no “actual drug use” by Hunter Biden was witnessed in the month he bought the gun.
He faces a maximum of 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, although first-time offenders rarely receive the maximum sentence. He also faces separate charges in California for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes and filing false returns, which could go to trial in September.
The jury can return a verdict at any time.
The Associated Press contributed.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
