The judge overseeing Hunter Biden’s federal firearms case in Delaware ruled Friday that prosecutors on Special Counsel David Weiss’ team cannot use salacious evidence, including references to his U.S. Navy discharge and a child support case for an out-of-wedlock child in Arkansas, at his eldest son’s criminal trial next month.
The court held final hearings before jury selection begins on June 3. Fox News previously reported that prosecutors plan to use parts of Biden’s books and laptop, including photos, to convince jurors that he is guilty of lying on federal paperwork and buying a handgun in 2018 while using drugs. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Judge Mary Ellen Noreika said Friday that Weiss must prove Hunter Biden was addicted to drugs, but not necessarily that he was using drugs on the day he bought the gun.
Hunter Biden is in court in Delaware. Here’s what he doesn’t want the jury to hear.
Noreika said the government could use sections of Hunter Biden’s book that discuss drug addiction.
Prosecutors will not release the entire infamous laptop filled with details about Hunter Biden’s life, but they will release parts of it. Judge Noreika ruled that Hunter’s team can question parts of the laptop in front of the jury. The laptop, leaked just before the 2020 presidential election, has been denounced by 51 former intelligence officials as Russian disinformation.
Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, speaks to reporters outside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, USA, Wednesday, December 13, 2023. (Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In court papers filed Friday morning, Biden’s lawyers asked the court to block certain salacious details about his life from being revealed to jurors to avoid a “significant risk of unfair prejudice.”
In what’s called a “motion for preliminary injunction,” Biden asked the court to “exclude references to his Arkansas child support case and his discharge from the Navy,” which concerns Biden’s illegitimate child with former stripper Lunden Roberts, whose daughter is President Biden’s grandson.
Biden’s lawyers acknowledged that some of the evidence prosecutors want to introduce may be relevant to the case, including drug buys, ATM withdrawals and the purchase of a revolver, but said other details, such as references to money allegedly spent on “adult entertainment, online chat rooms and escort services,” are not relevant to the charges.
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“Describing or referring to unnecessary salacious detail, such as the price of the items or whether they were luxury items, or the expense of alleged incidental sexual conduct unrelated to the charges in this case, is precisely prejudicial and inflammatory evidence which tends to provoke an emotional response in the jury and thereby increase the likelihood of a conviction,” the defense argued.
“Accordingly, Mr. Biden respectfully requests that the Court grant his preliminary motion to exclude any reference to a ‘lavish’ or ‘extravagant’ lifestyle during his drug addiction,” his lawyers wrote.
Judge Noreika partially agreed, ruling that while the special prosecutor could not use the phrase “lavish lifestyle,” he could cite evidence of large amounts of money being spent.
Judge Noreika also ruled that the special counsel could not discuss Hunter Biden’s discharge from the U.S. Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.
Noreika also said Weiss cannot use statements made by Hunter Biden on the day he first pleaded guilty as part of the failed plea deal. Weiss is also prohibited from using the phrase “lavish lifestyle,” though she can include evidence that her eldest son was spending a lot of money.
A courtroom sketch depicting Hunter Biden in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, on July 26, 2023. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)
According to Weiss’ firearms indictment, Hunter Biden purchased a Colt Cobra revolver on Oct. 12, 2018, and “knowingly and with the intent and likelihood of deceiving a dealer as to facts material to the lawfulness of the firearm sale, represented himself as not being an unlawful user of, or an addict to, stimulants, narcotics or other controlled substances, when in fact he knew such representations were false and fictitious.”
The indictment also alleges that Hunter Biden possessed firearms shipped and transported in interstate commerce for nearly a week while he was under the influence of drugs.
Combined, the charges carry a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years probation.
Fox News first reported in 2021 that police responded to a 2018 incident in which a gun owned by Hunter Biden was tossed in a trash can outside a market in Delaware.
Pretrial hearing on Hunter Biden’s gun charges set for Friday in Delaware
A source familiar with the Oct. 23, 2018 police report told Fox News that it shows Hallie Biden, the widow of President Biden’s late son Beau and who was in a relationship with Hunter at the time, threw out a gun belonging to Hunter in a trash can behind a market near the school.
Hallie Biden may be called to testify during Hunter Biden’s trial.
Judge Noreika also ruled Friday that Hunter Biden’s defense team cannot tell jurors that Delaware State Police did not charge his eldest son at the time of the shooting, and federal prosecutors did not indict him in the case until five years later.
Judge Noreika also ruled that the special counsel cannot mention during the Delaware trial Biden’s pending federal tax case in California, which is also part of Weiss’ investigation and is scheduled to go to trial in September.
Biden has pleaded not guilty to those charges, specifically three felony and six misdemeanor counts relating to $1.4 million in back taxes that had already been paid. Weiss alleged a “four-year scheme” in which the president’s son did not pay federal income taxes between January 2017 and October 2020, and also filed false tax returns.
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On Wednesday, Judge Mark Scarce heard arguments at a pretrial hearing in California. The criminal trial was scheduled for June 20, but Hunter Biden’s lawyers have requested a delay.
Scarce sided with Hunter Biden’s lawyers and moved the tax trial from June 20 to Sept. 5, when jury selection is due to begin.
Chris Pandolfo of Fox News Digital and David Spunt of Fox News contributed to this report.
