A federal appeals court on Thursday denied Hunter Biden’s attempt to have the federal gun charges filed against him by special counsel David Weiss last year dismissed.
The three-judge panel stated in an unsigned conclusion that Hunter Biden failed to demonstrate that lower court orders refusing his pleas to dismiss the indictment are appealable prior to final judgment. The verdict not only allows the trial against Hunter Biden to proceed, but it also allows for another appeal in the event of his conviction.
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Judges Patty Shwartz, Cindy Chung, and D. Brooks Smith rendered a unanimous decision based on procedural grounds.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement, “In reviewing the panel’s decision, we believe the issues involved are too important and that further review of our request is appropriate.”
The president’s son argued that the allegations against him were “unprecedented” and “unconstitutional,” and that they violated a diversion agreement with federal prosecutors, which fell apart in July due to a judge’s refusal to approve it. In September, federal prosecutors indicted Hunter Biden on three criminal counts pertaining to his purchase of a Colt Cobra 388PL revolver in 2018, during his drug use.
Prosecutors claimed he unlawfully possessed the pistol for 11 days and made false representations on a gun purchase form, saying he was not an illegal drug user. President Biden’s son has pleaded not guilty to firearms charges brought in Delaware. In December, California indicted him on nine federal tax counts. Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to those allegations and is pursuing a similar motion to dismiss the indictment.
Hunter Biden’s lawyers argued in court records seeking to dismiss the gun charges that the diversion arrangement, which required him to abstain from drugs and alcohol and prohibited him from purchasing or possessing firearms, among other requirements, was still legally enforceable and valid. They also suggested that politics played a role in the charge decisions, claiming that Weiss “vindictively and selectively prosecuted” him.
Federal prosecutors, however, disagreed with those claims in court filings, writing, in part, “The charges in this case are not trumped up or because of former President Trump—they are instead a result of the defendant’s own choices and were brought in spite of, not because of, any outside noise made by politicians.”
Former President Donald Trump nominated Weiss to serve as the United States Attorney for Delaware. Attorney General Merrick Garland chose to keep Weiss in that post, and then assigned him special counsel to conduct the Hunter Biden investigation.
