WILMINGTON, Del. — Jurors in Hunter Biden’s firearms trial deliberated for about an hour Monday before wrapping up deliberations for the day and preparing to return to court on Tuesday to continue arguments.
No one knows how long it will take for jurors to reach a verdict as they debate the felony charges.
“We held Hunter’s life in our hands and now we must hand it over to you,” defense attorney Abe Lowell told jurors just before leaving to begin verdict deliberations.
“Mr. Lowell suggested this man’s life was in your hands,” prosecutor Derek Hines later countered in closing argument. “But this man’s life is not in your hands.”
“He keeps saying he’s telling a story,” Hines said, “and that’s exactly what he’s done in this case. It’s just a story – a fictional story.”
Judge Mary Ellen Noreika urged the jury to reach their own conclusions and not to take lightly what she and the lawyers said about the case.
President Biden’s son faces three charges of illegally purchasing a .38 caliber revolver while under the influence of illegal drugs.
- Charge 1: Making false statements regarding the purchase of a firearm
- Charge 2: Making false statements regarding information required to be maintained by a federally licensed firearms dealer.
- Court 3: Possession of a firearm by an unlawful user or addict of a controlled substance
Hunter, 54, faces up to 25 years in prison and a fine of just over $750,000 if convicted on all three charges. Hunter has pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
If convicted, Hunter would be the first son of a sitting U.S. president to be convicted while his father was in the White House.
President Biden, 81, has publicly vowed not to pardon his troubled son if he is convicted of a crime.
Hunter’s trial began last Monday and saw the presentation of a vast array of evidence, ranging from an autobiography detailing his struggle with drug addiction to personal correspondence, bank withdrawals and witness testimony.
Throughout the trial, Lowell has repeatedly insisted that prosecutors must prove Hunter’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. He has sought to sow uncertainty, arguing that the charges are based on “speculation and suspicion.”
In a fiery closing argument, Judge Lowell scolded the prosecution for mentioning Hunter’s family members in the gallery and criticized them for dragging Hunter’s relatives onto the stand.
“Poor Hallie Biden has had to be dragged through this period of her life again,” he lamented. Hallie is the widow of President Biden’s late son Beau and Hunter Biden’s sister-in-law, with whom the defendant had an affair after her brother’s death.
Harry testified that she saw crack paraphernalia in Hunter’s truck on October 23, 2018, not far from where she later dumped the gun, setting off a chain of events that were reported to police.
Lowell said the process was ” [Hunter’s] Naomi is also a daughter.
“Who called the defendant’s daughter as a witness in this case? Not us,” Hines said. “If you watched her on the stand, you could tell how uncomfortable she was.”
“She could not ensure that the defendant was drinking alcohol.”
Naomi’s testimony indicated Hunter had been erratic toward her in text messages. Prosecutors called FBI agent Erica Jensen to provide additional details on Monday, for about 30 minutes.
“I think the reason she was called was to suggest that he was OK,” prosecutor Leo Wise speculated.
“This shouldn’t be happening,” he said, pointing to a 2 a.m. text message from Hunter demanding the return of his truck.
Hines later referred to Lowell’s defence that Hunter had texted Harry saying he was “asleep in his car smoking crack cocaine”.
Lowell likened the prosecutors’ actions to “a magician’s trick where he uses one hand to divert attention from the other.”
Hunter Biden appeared calm as he left the courtroom with his arm around his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden’s shoulder.
