WILMINGTON, Del. (NewsNation) — President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was found guilty of all three felony gun charges against him on Tuesday. He now faces up to 25 years in prison.
This trial was the first of two Hunter Biden faces amid his father’s reelection campaign. The president has said he plans to accept the jury’s verdict and has ruled out a pardon for his son.
Judge Maryellen Noreika said sentencing is usually done within 120 days out, and that she would be in touch to schedule a hearing. First-time offenders do not typically get anywhere near the maximum sentence, according to the Associated Press. Legal experts who spoke to NewsNation agreed with this assessment.
“It’s a non-violent offense, it’s a first-time offense,” Richard Shoenstein, a trial lawyer and legal analyst, said on “NewsNation Now,” adding that as a recovering addict, Hunter Biden seemed remorseful. “There’s so many reasons that he should be given a light sentence in this case.”
Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden’s lawyer, said in a statement they are disappointed by the verdict and plan to pursue all legal challenges available.
Special Counsel David Weiss, who had been appointed to oversee Hunter Biden’s case by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, stressed that the case was not just about addiction, but about the “illegal choices the defendant made.”
“No one in this country is above the law. Everyone must be accountable for their actions, even this defendant,” Weiss said. “However, Hunter Biden should be no more accountable than any other citizen convicted of this same conduct. The prosecution has been and will continue to be committed to this principle and to the principles of federal prosecution in carrying out its responsibilities.”
One of the jurors in the case told reporters that they took a vote Monday to see where everyone stood, and they were split: six people said Hunter Biden was not guilty, while the other six said he was.
When jurors came back Tuesday morning, they were still split before ultimately deciding on the unanimous “guilty” verdict. The people who initially said “not guilty” didn’t want to rush to judgement, the juror said.
“The key evidence in the whole case was the form that Hunter filled out,” the juror said. “When he checked that box, he knew that he was an addict.”
The trial put a spotlight on a turbulent time in Hunter Biden’s life after his older brother Beau Biden’s death in 2015, when he was struggling with a crack-cocaine addiction. Hunter Biden detailed this in his memoir, “Beautiful Things,” which was referenced multiple times in the trial.
Prosecutors said Hunter Biden lied when he swore he wasn’t a drug user on the form he filled out at the gun shop in 2018, months before Joe Biden announced his bid for president. However, defense attorneys said that Hunter Biden did not consider himself an “addict” when he filled out that form, as he had completed a rehab program weeks earlier.
Who testified at Hunter Biden’s trial?
Witnesses included Hunter Biden’s former romantic partners, including his ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, and Beau Biden’s widow, Hallie. The two had a brief relationship after Beau Biden died of brain cancer.
Hallie Biden found the unloaded gun in Hunter Biden’s truck Oct. 23, 2018, panicked and tossed it into a garbage can at a grocery store in Wilmington, where a man inadvertently fished it out of the trash.
During the trial, Hunter Biden’s daughter, Naomi, also testified, as well as the person who sold him the gun.
In addition, jurors were shown pictures of Hunter Biden bare-chested and disheveled in a filthy room and half-naked holding crack pipes and a video of his crack cocaine being weighed on a scale.
Reaction to Verdict
Hunter Biden kept a straight face as the verdict was read. He was found guilty on two counts of lying on a gun permit application by saying he was not a drug user, as well as one count of possessing a gun as a drug addict.
James Biden, Hunter’s uncle and the president’s brother, gasped and took a breath when he heard the verdict.
Before leaving the courtroom, Hunter Biden hugged his lawyer, Lowell and other members of his legal team and kissed his wife,Melissa Cohen Biden.
“I am more grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week from Melissa, my family, my friends, and my community than I am disappointed by the outcome,” Hunter Biden said in a statement sent after Tuesday’s court proceedings. “Recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience that gift one day at a time.”
Joe Biden said in a statement that he and First Lady Jill Biden love their son.
“We are so proud of the man he is today. 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,” Biden said. “As I also said last week, I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal. Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that.”
Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement that the verdict is a “step toward accountability.”
“But until the Department of Justice investigates everyone involved in the Bidens’ corrupt influence peddling schemes that generated over $18 million in foreign payments to the Biden family, it will be clear department officials continue to cover for the Big Guy, Joe Biden,” Comer said.
Karoline Leavitt, the national press secretary for former President Donald Trump’s campaign in the 2024 election, said the trial was nothing more than a “distraction” and that the “Biden Family Criminal Empire is all coming to an end on Nov. 5.”
Hunter Biden is also facing a separate trial, set to be held this September in California, over charges that he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through a now-defunct plea deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearslong investigation into his business dealings.