Jury selection begins Monday for Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s gun trial in Delaware, the first prosecution in U.S. history against the son of a sitting president.
Hunter Biden, 54, denies three felony charges stemming from his purchase of a .38 Colt Cobra revolver in 2018 at a time when he admitted to having a severe drug addiction, according to AFP.
The Yale-trained lawyer and former lobbyist turned artist is set to go on trial in his family’s hometown of Wilmington on two counts of falsely claiming to be drug-free on gun purchase documents.
The Biden heir is facing a third charge of illegally possessing a gun, after he possessed one for just 11 days in October 2018.
President Joe Biden (center) and his son Hunter Biden (right) leave St. Edmond Catholic Church in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, Saturday, June 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Hunter Biden unsuccessfully appealed his firearms charges in May at the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Breitbart News reported.
The president said he supports his son in his efforts to recover from drug addiction and that he loves him.
Prosecutors said they expect the case to take three days to be heard.
Special Counsel David C. Weiss, who is overseeing the prosecution, Signaled Prosecutors plan to call as a witness Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and possibly Hallie Biden, the widow of Joe Biden’s son Beau, who died of brain cancer.
Hallie Biden was dating Hunter Biden when he purchased the handgun in 2018.
The trial, which will not be televised, is likely to last around two weeks, AFP reported.
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Hunter Biden also faces separate tax evasion charges in California and is scheduled to go on trial later this year.
AFP noted that Biden could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted, although in practice prison sentences for such crimes are rare unless accompanied by other charges.
This incident United States v. Hunter Biden U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, No. 24-1703
