Wilmington: President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden was convicted by a jury on Tuesday of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a gun, a verdict Democrats may seize upon to counter Donald Trump's claim of a justice system weaponized against him.
A 12-member jury in Wilmington, Delaware, federal court found him guilty on all three counts against him, making Hunter Biden the first child of a sitting US president to be convicted of a crime.
Hunter Biden, 54, lightly nodded his head after the verdict was read but otherwise showed little reaction. He then patted his lawyer Abbe Lowell on the back and hugged another member of his legal team.
The judge set no date for sentencing, but added the timeline is usually within 120 days. That would place it no later than a month before the Nov. 5 US presidential election.
Sentencing guidelines for the gun charges are 15 to 21 months, but legal experts say defendants in similar cases often get shorter sentences and are less likely to be incarcerated if they abide by the terms of their pretrial release.
Biden says will ‘respect the judicial process’
Joe Biden pledged on Tuesday to “respect the judicial process” after his son Hunter, a former drug addict, was found guilty of gun charges in the first criminal prosecution of the child of a sitting US president.
“I am the President, but I am also a Dad,” Biden said in a statement. “So many families who have had loved ones battle addiction understand the feeling of pride seeing someone you love come out the other side and be so strong and resilient in recovery.
His brother Beau died from cancer in 2015, and his sister Naomi died as an infant in a 1972 car crash that also killed their mother, Neilia, Joe Biden's first wife.
The Yale-trained lawyer and lobbyist-turned-artist was charged with falsely stating when buying a .38 caliber revolver in 2018 that he was not using drugs illegally.
He was also charged with illegal possession of the firearm, which he had for just 11 days in October of that year.
The president's son, who has written unsparingly about his addiction, claimed that at the time he bought the revolver he did not consider himself to be an addict.
Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, although as a first-time offender jail time is unlikely.
He has long been the target of hard-right Republicans, and Trump allies have investigated him at length in Congress on allegations of corruption and influence-peddling. No charges have ever been brought.
Hunter Biden's business dealings in China and Ukraine have also formed the basis for attempts by Republican lawmakers to initiate impeachment proceedings against his father. Those efforts too have gone nowhere.
The White House has said there would be no presidential pardon for Hunter Biden. --AFP
“I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.”
Some 61% of registered voters responding to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in February said Hunter Biden’s legal troubles would have no impact on whether they voted for his father in November. The poll showed voters divided over whether Hunter Biden’s legal troubles were related to his father’s service as president.
The trial followed the May 30 criminal conviction of Trump, the first former U.S. president to be found guilty of a felony and the Republican challenger to Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the Nov. 5 election.
Trump, convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal, accuses Democrats of pursuing that case and three other criminal prosecutions to prevent him from regaining power in his rematch with Joe Biden.
Congressional Democrats have pointed to cases including the Hunter Biden prosecution as evidence that Joe Biden is not using the justice system for political or personal ends, having said last week he would not pardon his son if convicted.
The Hunter Biden case was brought by US Department of Justice Special Counsel David Weiss, a Trump appointee.
Weiss has also charged Hunter Biden with three felony and six misdemeanor tax offenses in California, alleging he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes between 2016 and 2019 while spending millions on drugs, escorts, exotic cars and other high-ticket items.
Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to those charges. A trial is scheduled for Sept. 5 in Los Angeles.
The Delaware trial included prosecution testimony by Hunter Biden's ex-wife, former girlfriend and sister-in-law, who gave firsthand accounts of his spiraling addiction in the weeks before and after he bought the gun in October 2018.
Prosecutors also showed text messages, photos and bank records that they said showed Biden was deep in the throes of addiction when he bought the gun and knowingly broke the law by answering no to being a drug user on a government screening form.
Biden's lawyers sought to show he was not using drugs when he bought the gun and did not intend to deceive because he didn't consider himself a drug user when he filled out the form.
The defense called Hunter Biden's daughter, Naomi Biden, who testified that her father seemed to be doing well when she saw him shortly before and after he bought the gun.
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