The Delaware jury deciding Hunter Biden’s fate reached a verdict Tuesday morning on the three federal felonies with which the president’s son was charged related to his 2018 purchase of a firearm while addicted to and using illicit drugs.
As announced by the foreperson on Tuesday after just a few hours of deliberations, the jury found Hunter guilty on all three felony counts.
Deliberations began on Monday afternoon after closing arguments on the sixth day of the trial. Jurors had to decide whether Hunter was guilty of making a false statement during a background check to deceive a federally licensed firearms dealer in Wilmington, making a false statement on a form that the seller kept as the firearm transaction record, and illegally possessing the firearm he purchased.
The charges carry a sentence of up to 25 years in prison in addition to $750,000 in fines and nine years of supervised release.
The trial itself wasn’t a certainty, but after a sweetheart plea deal between Special Counsel David Weiss and Hunter’s attorneys imploded under the slightest scrutiny from Judge Maryellen Noreika, Hunter ended up having to face the music in open court.
Townhall’s Mia Cathell was in the courthouse for the duration of the trial. As she reported, jurors heard from Hunter’s ex-wife, his daughter, an intimate partner, the widow of his brother Beau, law enforcement officials, and the employee who sold Hunter the firearm at the center of the case.
Evidence presented at the trial ranged from excerpts of Hunter’s memoir and self-narrated audiobook to the contents of his laptop from hell — including photographs, text messages, and more. Sordid details, there were plenty. For more of Mia’s daily coverage from Wilmington, see here.
Prosecutors argued the case was cut-and-dried: Hunter was frequently using illegal drugs in 2018 but said that he was not on the ATF background check form he completed to purchase the firearm in 2018, knowingly lying on the federal form.
The defense on the other hand disputed that Hunter’s admissions of addiction were related to his use of crack cocaine, asserted that the ATF form failed to make the question about drug use or addiction clear enough, and insisted that his text messages about meeting up with drug dealers were fabricated excuses.
Ultimately, the prosecution’s case prevailed, and now Hunter Biden is a convicted felon.
As Mia reported for Townhall ahead of the trial, for a guilty verdict, the jury had to find that prosecutors proved the following beyond a reasonable doubt:
- Hunter Biden was either using or addicted to crack cocaine.
- The jury need not find that he is both, but it must find he is one of those two.
- He made the false statement of sobriety when he filled out the form.
- He knew the statement was false.
- The false statement was material to the sale’s lawfulness.
- In other words, the sale would not have occurred had he answered otherwise.
- When he had the handgun, he was doing drugs or an addict.
- The prosecution is not required to establish that he simultaneously did drugs at the precise time he possessed the gun.
- Rather, it is sufficient that the prosecution prove that he “actively engaged” in substance abuse and that it occurred “recently enough” in proximity to the period Hunter Biden possessed the gun. Accordingly, the defense was denied the ability to argue or suggest that the government must show Hunter Biden did drugs on the day of the gun’s purchase.
- As stipulated by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in its firearm regulations, an inference of current drug use may be drawn from a pattern of usage or possession that “reasonably covers” the timeframe that the firearm was in the defendant’s possession. As for drug addiction, the prosecution’s proposed jury instructions define it as “habitually” using or to the extent that the drug addict has “lost the power of self-control.”
Hunter’s time in federal courthouses is not over yet as he still faces multiple additional federal felonies related to tax fraud. That trial — taking place in California — was delayed until September.
