Hunter Biden’s federal gun case will go to trial next month, a judge said Tuesday, rejecting lawyers’ request to delay the prosecution.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika denied Hunter Biden’s plea to postpone the Delaware trial until September, citing the need to line up witnesses and review material turned over by prosecutors. The judge expressed her belief that everyone can complete their tasks by the trial’s opening date on June 3.
Related posts
A three-judge panel of a federal appeals court ruled later on Tuesday, allowing the tax case against him, scheduled for trial in California on June 20, to proceed. The 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case.
The two rulings mean that Joe Biden’s son might face trial next month on two separate criminal charges on opposing coasts during his father’s reelection campaign.
Delaware accuses Hunter Biden of lying about his drug use on documents he used to buy a gun, which he kept for about 11 days. He has pleaded not guilty and admitted to suffering from a crack cocaine addiction during that time period in 2018, but his lawyers claim he did not break the law.
According to court documents filed Tuesday, Special Counsel David Weiss’ team intends to show jurors in the gun case excerpts from his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which he detailed his struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse following the 2015 death of his older brother, Beau, who died of brain cancer at the age of 46. Hunter Biden claims he has been sober since 2019.
During a hearing in Delaware federal court, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, told the judge that many specialists the defense has approached have declined to testify in the case, citing media attention. Prosecutor Derek Hines disputed the claim that media attention was to blame.
“His memoir clearly states that he was actively addicted,” Hines said. “I’m not sure what expert they can find who will say he wasn’t.”I believe that is the problem they are facing.
Lowell stated that he was not looking for an expert to contradict Biden’s addiction issues, but rather to explore someone’s ability to recognize when they are an addict. Hunter Biden was not required to attend Tuesday’s hearing, and he chose not to do so.
The defense has claimed that prosecutors gave in to Republican pressure, asserting that they initially offered the Democratic president’s son a preferential bargain and indicted him as a result of political pressure.
However, former President Donald Trump chose Noreika to the bench, rejecting his assertion last month that the prosecution is politically motivated, as well as earlier attempts to dismiss the case. A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined last week that the case could proceed to trial, but Hunter Biden’s attorney indicated Tuesday that they would continue to pursue his appeal.
His lawyers filed another motion to halt the prosecution later on Tuesday, claiming that Congress had not properly approved the special counsel’s money. Last month, the judge refused a move to dismiss based on these reasons.
He faces three felonies and six misdemeanors in California for allegedly owing at least $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019. Prosecutors accuse him of spending millions of dollars on an “extravagant lifestyle” rather than paying his taxes. He has now paid the back taxes.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers filed an appeal to the 9th Circuit after U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi dismissed eight motions to dismiss the indictment last month. On Tuesday, the three-judge bench of the appeals court declined to rule on the merits of his arguments, stating that they cannot appeal the problems at this time.
Last year, he agreed to plead guilty to minor tax charges, and if he had avoided trouble for two years, he would not have faced prosecution for the weapons allegations. It was the end of a years-long probe by federal prosecutors into the president’s son’s business transactions, and the arrangement would have avoided criminal proceedings and spared the Bidens weeks of media attention as the 2024 election approached.
However, the arrangement fell apart after the judge who was supposed to sign it voiced a number of concerns.
He faces two charges in the Delaware case: first, for falsely checking a box indicating he was not addicted to narcotics, and second, for submitting it to the business for federally mandated records. A third complaint alleges that he kept the gun for around 11 days despite knowing he was a drug user.
He faces three felonies and six misdemeanors in California for allegedly owing at least $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019. Prosecutors accuse him of spending millions of dollars on an “extravagant lifestyle” rather than paying his taxes. He has now paid the back taxes.
