Jurors selected to return to court when opening statements are expected to begin Tuesday morning include a substitute teacher, a former Secret Service agent and several gun owners. The jury selected is six men and six women, most of whom are people of color and are believed to be in their mid-20s to 70s.
While the vetting and selection took place, Hunter Biden sat at the defense table with his lawyers, while his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, first lady Jill Biden and several other relatives and family friends sat nearby in the gallery.
The responses of the dozens of potential jurors to questions in open court reflected some of the most pervasive and divisive issues in American society, with jurors discussing their views on gun ownership and distrust in the judicial process.
And in cases where criminal defendants have been public about their struggles with drug addiction, jurors have heard in courtrooms talk about similar struggles experienced by the defendants’ parents, children and friends.
Many offered their own take on the written statement from President Biden, who was in Wilmington on Monday but did not attend the courthouse. President Biden said he was moved by his son’s recovery from drug addiction and that many families of addicts can relate to Hunter Biden’s journey.
“My daughter deserved a second chance,” said Juror Lee, who was not selected for the jury but said that, like many others, watching family members suffer from drugs won’t stop her from judging Hunter Biden impartially. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”
Biden is charged with three felony counts related to a gun he purchased in 2018. According to the four-page indictment, he allegedly made two false statements when filling out paperwork required to purchase the gun. He claimed he was not dependent on or used illegal drugs, but “in fact, he knew those statements were false and fictitious,” according to the indictment. He then claimed his statements were true and that, as a drug user, he had illegally possessed a gun for 11 days.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, the most serious charges in the indictment carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, but as a first-time offender he will likely face a much lighter sentence.
During his gun trial, Hunter Biden returned to his hometown of Wilmington, where he grew up, his brother died of brain cancer in 2015, and where prosecutors say he was addicted to drugs when he bought a Colt revolver. At the time, he was romantically involved with his brother’s widow, Hallie Biden, and she found the gun in his truck and threw it in a trash can at an upscale grocery store. She did so because she feared for his safety, according to text messages that prosecutors plan to introduce into evidence.
Many of the jurors had read or seen headlines about the Hunter Biden gun case in local and national news media for years, but few had looked deeply into the details. One woman selected as an alternate juror said she first found out Hunter Biden was on trial from her father on the drive to the court on Monday.
She told the court that many of her relatives own guns and that she has lost friends to drug addiction. “It feels like it’s becoming a thing these days,” she said.
Several potential jurors said they knew the Biden family personally because they lived in Delaware. One former police officer who donated to the Republican National Committee said he worked at the same school as Jill Biden and had run into Joe Biden at events over the years. One bartender had served Hunter Biden’s uncle, who was in court Monday, drinks several times at a Delaware bar. Another potential juror coached youth sports for Hunter Biden’s brother’s children. And one woman said she knew Hunter and Hallie Biden socially.
All four people who testified that they had personal ties to the family were excluded from the jury.
“Delaware is a small place,” one potential juror said.
Many who were questioned said their political views influenced their opinions of the case and were released from questioning after admitting they didn’t like what they had heard about Hunter Biden. A female potential juror said she remembered seeing reports about the Biden family when Joe Biden ran for president in 2020 and laughed when she found out what the case was about. When asked what her opinion of Hunter was, she said, “It’s not a good opinion.”
Hunter Biden was also indicted in Los Angeles last year on three counts of failing to report and pay federal taxes on at least $1.4 million between 2016 and 2019, tax evasion and filing false tax returns. The charges include three felony counts and six misdemeanor counts. The case is scheduled for trial in September.
The two indictments are separate, but both stem from the same difficult period in his life, share some of the same evidence and were once closely related. U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware launched an investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings under the Trump administration but has not filed any charges related to those activities.
Last summer, Biden reached a tentative agreement with Delaware prosecutors to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and plead guilty to a firearms charge, but the deal fell apart after Noreika questioned some of the terms of the agreement.
Soon after, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Weiss as special counsel, a move that gave prosecutors explicit authority to bring charges outside Delaware and paved the way for tax prosecutions in California.
The trial in Delaware is expected to last about two weeks, with prosecutors saying they could call up to 12 witnesses. Testimony will be deeply personal and could resurrect some of the Biden family’s most painful moments from their past.
“While I do not and will not comment on pending federal litigation, as a father I have boundless love and confidence for my son and respect for his strength,” President Biden said in a statement Monday.
During each break in the trial, Hunter Biden kissed his wife and mother on the cheek.
That morning, while waiting for jury selection to begin, he greeted the first lady with a sarcastic joke: “Happy birthday,” he said.
“We’ve prepared a special event.”
