Hunter Biden’s gun request is turning point in case: juror

President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden, accompanied by his mother, first lady Jill Biden and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden, walks out of federal court after hearing the verdict, Tuesday, June 11, 2024, in Wilmington, Del. Hunter Biden was found guilty on all three counts in the federal gun trial. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

(NewsNation) – The jury that found Hunter Biden guilty of three gun charges was divided when they returned to the Delaware courthouse Tuesday morning before all 12 jurors finally returned and convicted the president’s son Joe Biden guilty on all charges.

Juror 10, from Sussex County, Delaware, told reporters after the verdict was read that the six jurors who arrived Tuesday preparing to acquit the president’s son did not want to rush to judgment.

Ultimately, however, the turning point came when jurors concluded that prosecutors had proven that Biden had falsely checked a box on the gun application indicating that he was not a drug addict or addicted to crack .

Hunter Biden faces up to 25 years in prison on charges including lying about his drug addiction on an application for a gun he possessed in Delaware for about 11 days. Biden now faces a trial in September where he will contest the misdemeanor charges after prosecutors argued Biden failed to pay $1.4 million in federal taxes between 2016 and 2019.

But in sentencing Biden on Tuesday, the anonymous juror told reporters that Biden’s drug abuse around the same time he bought the gun was a major factor in the jury’s change of opinion.

Juror 10 said the non-rush to judgment was “justice for Hunter” and some of the six implored other jurors to give the president’s son the benefit of the doubt. But one juror stood firm, saying, “You’re not going to change my mind,” he told reporters.

Prosecutors said they planned to use portions of Biden’s 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things” in which he detailed his struggles with alcohol and drug abuse following the death of his brother Beau .

“When he purchased the gun – the period before he purchased the gun and the period after he purchased the gun, there was evidence of (drug) use,” the juror said.

However, while at least one juror who refused to concede on Biden’s guilt acknowledged finding the testimony of Biden’s daughter Hallie “compelling,” Juror 10 said it could not be said as much from Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell.

He indicated he disagreed with the defense’s contention that Biden’s life was in the hands of the jury.

“He clearly didn’t have things together the way the prosecution did,” Juror 10 said, adding that he didn’t think Lowell provided a compelling case for his client’s innocence.

Lowell said in a statement Tuesday that he would pursue “all available legal challenges.”

Although Biden’s lawyers have claimed the gun and tax charges against Hunter Biden were politically motivated as President Biden seeks a second term in the White House, politics rarely entered the picture to declare Hunter Biden guilty, Juror 10 said.

The juror said he rarely watches the news and said he didn’t know what charges Hunter Biden was facing when he was called to serve on the jury.

He said at no point were political motivations factored into the final decision during the jury’s nearly three hours of deliberation. President Biden was not present at any of the trials, which were attended by his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, and other members of the Biden family.

“You just try to somehow block that from your mind,” the juror said of the first lady’s presence in the courtroom. “When you talk about the sitting president, and it’s his son who’s on trial, I never really thought he was the president’s son.”

He added: “His father was not on trial. »