WILMINGTON, Del. (Associated Press) — Hunter Biden’s The gun trial began on Monday with deliberations on whether the president’s son is guilty. Federal firearms violations According to prosecutors, the defendant was charged in 2018 over a revolver he purchased while he was addicted to crack cocaine.
He was charged with three felonies in the incident. Some of the darkest moments Regarding his history of drug addiction, the prosecution Former Loverpersonal text messages and photos showing Hunter Biden holding drug paraphernalia and semi-nude to allege he broke the law.
“No one is above the law,” prosecutor Leo Wise told jurors in his closing argument, as First Lady Jill Biden looked on from the front row of a Wilmington, Delaware, courtroom.
Jurors left court for the day after deliberating for less than an hour, and deliberations were scheduled to resume Tuesday morning.
President Joe Biden’s son Publicly and in detail The defendant struggled with a cocaine addiction until he quit using drugs more than five years ago, but the defense tried to show he didn’t consider himself an “addict” when he bought the gun and checked “no” on a form asking if he was an “illegal user” or addict of drugs.
The case has pitted Hunter Biden against his father’s Justice Department in the midst of the Democratic president’s reelection campaign. The charges were brought by special counsel David Weiss, who was appointed federal prosecutor in Delaware by former Republican President Donald Trump and led the long-running investigation.
Before the case went to the jury, prosecutors urged jurors to focus on the “overwhelming” evidence against Hunter Biden and not pay attention to the president’s family sitting in the courtroom.
“All of this is not evidence,” Wise said, holding out his hand to indicate to jurors to look at the gallery. “The people sitting in the gallery are not evidence.”
Jill Biden and other family members left the courtroom shortly after deliberations began. The first lady attended most of the trial, missing only one day last week when she accompanied the president to France for events marking the anniversary of the Normandy landings. At one point on Monday, Hunter Biden leaned over the railing to whisper in his mother’s ear.
Defense attorney Abe Lowell told the jury in his closing argument that the prosecution had failed to prove its case. He said his client may have a famous last name, but like any defendant, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
“As I draw my last breath in this case, I seek the only verdict that will force the prosecutor to do what the law requires: an acquittal,” Lowell said.
Hunter Biden’s legal team has suggested that he had completed a detoxification and rehabilitation program in late August 2018 and was trying to get his life back together at the time he bought the gun. Hunter’s Daughter NaomiShe told jurors her father’s condition appeared to improve in the weeks before he bought the gun.
The closing arguments came just after the defense finished its statement without calling Hunter Biden as a witness. Biden did not elaborate on his decision as he told U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika he was waiving his right to testify, according to a transcript of the arguments in the courtroom.
Hunter Biden smiled as he chatted with members of his defense team and flashed a thumbs up to supporters in the gallery after testimony from an FBI agent, the final witness the prosecution called in their rebuttal.
The trial has shone a spotlight on a tumultuous period in Hunter Biden’s life following the death of his brother Beau from brain cancer in 2015. In the president’s home stateIt’s where Hunter Biden grew up and where his family has deep roots. Joe Biden for 36 years He commuted to Washington daily as a senator from Delaware, while Beau Biden was the state’s attorney general.
Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Two former girlfriends testified for the prosecution about his chronic crack cocaine use and their failed attempts to get him off the drug. One woman who met Hunter Biden at a strip club where she worked in 2017 testified that when they stayed at a hotel together, he would smoke a crack joint about every 20 minutes.
Jurors heard the defendant speak at length about how he became addicted to drugs, via audio excerpts played in court. and a 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things.” The book was written after he got sober, and it talks about times when he owned guns, but doesn’t get specific.
The prosecution’s key witness Bo’s widow, Harry, She had a short but troubled relationship with Hunter after the death of her brother, when she found an unloaded gun in Hunter’s truck on October 23, 2018, and in a panic threw it in a trash can at a grocery store in Wilmington, where a man looking for recycling happened to pick it up from the bin.
Prosecutors showed text messages indicating Hunter was trying to make a drug deal before and after the gun purchase. In one message, Hunter told Harry he smoked crack cocaine. “That’s my truth,” Hunter wrote.
“Take the defendant at his word. That is his truth,” Wise said. He urged jurors to reject defense arguments that Hunter didn’t mean what he said in the text messages and was simply trying to avoid being with Harry.
“Common sense should not be forgotten when you sit in the jury box,” Wise said.
The defense told the jury that no witnesses said Hunter used drugs during the 11 days he had the gun. Lowell also tried to discredit the testimony of Hallie and another ex-girlfriend. He urged jurors to consider their testimony “with the utmost care,” noting that they had signed immunity agreements in exchange for testifying as prosecution witnesses.
Joe Biden said last week he would accept the jury’s verdict and deny a presidential pardon to his son. After returning from France, the president was scheduled to spend the day at his Wilmington home and attend a Juneteenth concert in Washington in the evening. He was scheduled to fly to Italy later this week to attend the Group of Seven summit.
Last summer, Hunter Biden appeared to be avoiding gun charges altogether, but a deal with prosecutors judgeHunter Biden, a judge nominated by President Trump, has expressed concern about the case. The trial is scheduled for September He was indicted on felony charges for failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over a four-year period.
If convicted on the firearms charge, he faces up to 25 years in prison, but a first-time offender would be far short of that maximum, and it’s unclear whether the judge will give him any time in prison.
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Richer reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Mike Catalini and Matt Slocum in Wilmington and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.
