The fate of Hunter Biden’s gun charges is now before a jury of 12 Delawareans

On June 11, 2024By Rgal Nv

After a week of trial testimony, a jury is now deliberating on the gun-related felony charges against Hunter Biden.

Testimony was brief Monday, with defense attorneys offering no additional witnesses and the president’s son choosing not to testify. Hunter Biden, the first child of a sitting president to face a criminal trial, faces three gun-related felonies for his purchase of a .38 revolver in October 2018.

Prosecutors say Hunter Biden lied about his drug use and addiction when he filled out a form to buy the gun at a Talleyville gun store that sparked two of the crimes. They also claim he illegally possessed the gun as a drug user for 11 days before Hallie Biden threw it in the trash at Janssen Market in Greenville.

“If this evidence does not establish that Hunter Biden is an addict or illegal user, then no one is an addict or illegal user,” prosecutor Derek Hines told the jury.

The government spent a week presenting text messages showing drug deals, photos showing drugs, excerpts from his memoirs and cash withdrawal receipts that they say show his active addiction from 2016 to 2019. They also called a parade of Hunter Biden’s exes to the stand. who spoke about experiencing his addiction to crack cocaine, as well as the painful effects it had on their relationships.

As people once close to Hunter Biden took the stand, members of his family watched from the gallery, including First Lady Jill Biden, who attended most days of the trial. Prosecutor Leo Wise appeared to address the family’s strong show of support in his first words to the jury during closing, telling them that seeing people they might know from the information was irrelevant to the verdict.

“The only evidence in this case is that from the witness box and the physical and documentary evidence that was admitted by Judge Noreika,” Wise said.

At times, the evidence showing the depth of Hunter Biden’s addiction seemed intended to embarrass or shame, which defense attorney Abbe Lowell turned into an emotional appeal to the jury Thursday.

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He reminded the jury how prosecutors seemed to go out of their way to point out the age difference between him and one of his exes and noted that prosecutors told the jury they were not prosecuting Hunter Biden for their drug use or dependence.

“Honestly, didn’t that seem like exactly what they were doing?” » said Lowell.

On defense, Lowell attempted to build a wall of sorts around October 2018, when Hunter Biden purchased the weapon. He admitted that drug abuse and addiction was evident before and after, but in his closing arguments he highlighted Hunter Biden’s stay in rehab in California in August, followed by his return to Delaware in October , arguing that his client was in a period of convalescence.

Prosecutors must convince the jury that Hunter Biden knowingly lied on the form. Lowell therefore argued that Hunter Biden did not consider himself an addict or illegal user when he allegedly lied about it on the gun form. The defense took great care to compare the mountains of evidence showing drug use before and after that month with the relative shortage that existed just before and during October 2018.

Prosecutors rejected that theory Monday, arguing the defense’s description of the law was too limited and also citing evidence directly from the time period in question.

Wise, one of the prosecutors, highlighted the testimony of Zoe Kestan, one of Hunter Biden’s former lovers. Kestan testified that Hunter Biden smoked crack cocaine in Los Angeles in September 2018, weeks before purchasing the gun at issue at trial.

“You could convict based on those facts alone,” Wise said.

Lowell damaged her credibility, noting that she testified under an immunity deal from prosecutors and that she didn’t mind taking Hunter Biden’s money, doing drugs with him or help with drugs when he was trying to abstain.

Prosecutors also referenced two text messages from two days after Hunter Biden purchased the gun, in which he told Hallie Biden that he was waiting for a dealer and that he was smoking crack. Lowell said his client was lying because he didn’t want to see her at that time, which Wise told the jury not to believe.

“He didn’t need to make up this elaborate story about two drug deals,” Wise said. “You don’t leave your common sense behind when you enter the jury box.”

Prosecutors described the evidence as “personal, ugly and damning.” Wise later added that it “could provoke disgust or sympathy, or both.” But both Hines and Wise emphasized accountability.

“Choices have consequences and that’s why we were here,” Hines told the jury.

Lowell noted that the only person who ever took the gun out of a locked box was Hallie Biden when she made the “incredibly stupid” decision to throw the gun in the trash. He pointed to Hunter Biden’s response when he couldn’t find it, arguing that it didn’t show someone who posed a danger to public safety or someone using drugs.

“He said, ‘come in and call the police,'” Lowell said, citing one of Hunter’s text messages to Hallie Biden that day.