Jurors in Delaware have begun deliberating on Hunter Biden’s criminal trial on felony charges related to his efforts to obtain a .38 revolver from a gun shop in 2018 while allegedly battling addiction to crack cocaine. This is the first time that the son of a sitting president has faced a criminal trial.
The first son faces three felonies including: false statement in purchasing of a firearm, false statement related to information required to be kept by federal firearms licensed dealer, and possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
According to a recent report from The Guardian, the jurors have heard emotional testimonies from “Hunter Biden’s former romantic partners, read personal text messages and seen photos of him with drug paraphernalia or partially clothed.”
One woman who said she met Hunter Biden at a strip club where she worked in 2017 described him smoking crack every 20 minutes or so while she stayed with him at a hotel.
The defense for the president’s son tried to show that he did not consider himself an “addict” when he filled out a form to purchase a revolver. His defense attorney - Abbe Lowell, who represented the daughter of former President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner in 2018 - also suggested that having a famous last name does not change the fact that he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
His lawyers have also suggested that he was “trying” to turn his life around when he purchased the gun, and that he had completed a detoxification and rehabilitation program at the end of August 2018.
Hallie Biden - Beau Biden's widow whom Hunter Biden reportedly had a romantic relationship with following his brother’s death - told jurors she “panicked” when she found a Colt Cobra revolver in Hunter Biden’s vehicle on October 23, 2018. She said she threw it away in a trash can as a result. She also claims that Biden smoked crack on a “daily” basis or “frequently” during her testimony. However, she told the jury that she did not see Biden abusing drugs or alcohol for most of the month of October.
But the prosecution has shown texts that Biden sent to his brother Beau’s widow. They have argued that the texts show drug use and drug deals in the days following the first son’s gun purchase. Biden’s attorney, Lowell, has suggested that Biden was “lying” to his brother’s widow.
The jurors are made up of six men and six women. During the jury selection, a “majority” of potential jurors told the court they have personally experienced addiction issues through their friends and family.
Biden’s family members, including the first lady, have been present throughout the trial since hearings first began a week ago. The attorney and businessman has pleaded not guilty to all three charges and has accused the justice department of political sway from Trump and other Republicans after his plea deal with prosecutors fell through last year.
If convicted, Biden could receive up to a maximum of 25 years in prison. The president told reporters last week that he would not pardon his son.
The trial comes on the heels of Trump’s own criminal trial, the conclusion of which found the former president guilty of 34 felonies in New York City, making him the first president in US history to be criminally convicted. The Manhattan case focused on a hush money payment Trump made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels with whom the former president allegedly had an affair.