Jury Convicts Hunter Biden on All Gun Charges

Hunter Biden has been found guilty on all three federal gun charges he faced in Delaware, reports the AP. The jury in his case delivered the verdict Tuesday morning after deliberating about three hours. Jurors found Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user, and illegally having the gun for 11 days. (At that point, his girlfriend—his late brother’s widow—found it and threw it in a public trash can.)

• The stakes: President Biden’s son faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Maryellen Noreika, though first-time offenders who didn’t use their weapon in a violent crime typically do not receive jail time, per the New York Times. Biden also faces up to $750,000 in fines. No sentencing date has been set.
• Little reaction: Hunter Biden stared straight ahead and showed little emotion as the verdict was read. After the verdict, he patted his defense attorney on the shoulder.
• More trouble: Hunter Biden’s legal troubles aren’t over. He faces a trial in September in California on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes, and congressional Republicans have signaled they will keep going after him in their stalled impeachment effort of the president. The president has not been accused or charged with any wrongdoing by prosecutors investigating his son.
• The trial: The prosecution devoted much of the trial to highlighting the seriousness of Hunter Biden’s drug problem, through highly personal testimony and embarrassing evidence. Jurors heard Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and a former girlfriend testify about his habitual crack use and their failed efforts to help him get clean. Jurors saw images of the president’s son bare-chested and disheveled in a filthy room, and half-naked holding crack pipes. And jurors watched video of his crack cocaine weighed on a scale.
• The spiral: Hunter Biden, 54, did not testify but jurors heard his voice when prosecutors played audio excerpts of his 2021 memoir Beautiful Things, in which he talks about hitting bottom after the death of his brother Beau in 2015, and his descent into drugs before his eventual sobriety.
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