The criminal trial of President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, is entering its crucial final stages in Wilmington, Delaware on Monday.
The defence is set to continue challenging the prosecution's portrayal of Hunter's troubled past marked by drug addiction. As the proceedings pick up again at Delaware's federal court, Hunter Biden's legal team may bring forward at least one more witness.
This trial is just the first of two he faces amidst his father's campaign for re-election. It remains to be seen if the prosecution will present any rebuttal witnesses before moving to closing arguments and handing over to the jury.
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Hunter Biden has been in court with his wife Melissa Cohen Biden (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)Hunter Biden faces three felony charges related to a gun purchase in October 2018, where he allegedly lied about his drug use on a mandatory form, claiming he was not using or addicted to drugs illegally. Despite pleading not guilty and accusing the Justice Department of succumbing to political pressure from ex-President Donald Trump and other Republicans, Hunter has admitted to being sober since 2019.
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His lawyers argue that he did not view himself as an "addict" at the time he completed the gun purchase form. The case has shone a light on a tumultuous period in Hunter Biden's life following the death of his brother Beau in 2015. First Lady Jill Biden has been observing proceedings from the front row of the courtroom, while President Biden was in France for much of last week and is set to return to Europe this week for the G7 leaders meeting in Italy.
Hunter Biden's battle with substance addiction, from which he has been sober for over five years, is well known. However, defence lawyers argue there is no evidence to suggest that Hunter Biden was using drugs during the 11-day period when he had the gun in his possession. He had finished a rehab programme just weeks prior.
Jill Biden has been regularly attending her step-son's trial (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)Jurors have been presented with emotional and salacious testimony from Hunter Biden's former romantic partners and have read personal text messages. They've seen photos of Hunter Biden holding a crack pipe and partially clothed, as well as video footage from his phone showing crack cocaine being weighed on a scale.
His ex-wife and two former girlfriends gave evidence for the prosecution about his regular use of crack and their unsuccessful attempts to help him overcome his addiction. One woman, who met Hunter Biden at a strip club where she worked in 2017, described him smoking crack approximately every 20 minutes while she stayed with him at a hotel.
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Hunter Biden has yet to take the stand and it remains uncertain if he will. However, jurors have heard him detail his descent into addiction through audio excerpts from his 2021 memoir "Beautiful Things" played in court. The book, penned after his recovery, covers the period when he had the gun but doesn't specifically mention it.
A crucial witness for the prosecution is Beau's widow, Hallie, who had a brief tumultuous relationship with Hunter following his brother's death from brain cancer. She discovered the unloaded firearm in Hunter's truck on 23rd October 2018, panicked and threw it into a bin at a grocery store in Wilmington, where a man accidentally retrieved it.
Hunter Biden's life has been exposed as evidence is heard in court (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)"I didn't want him to hurt himself, and I didn't want my kids to find it and hurt themselves," Hallie Biden told the jury. From the time Hunter returned to Delaware from a 2018 trip to California until she discarded his gun, she did not see him using drugs, Hallie informed the jury. This period included the day he purchased the weapon.
However, the jury also saw text messages Hunter sent to Hallie in October 2018 stating he was waiting for a dealer and smoking crack. The first message was sent the day after he bought the gun. The second was sent the next day. The defence has suggested that Hunter Biden was attempting to turn his life around at the time of the gun purchase, having completed a detoxification and rehabilitation programme at the end of August 2018.
"There is no evidence of contemporaneous drug use and a gun possession," defence lawyer Abbe Lowell wrote in court papers filed on Friday. "It was only after the gun was thrown away and the ensuing stress ... that the government was able to then find the same type of evidence of his use (e.g., photos, use of drug lingo) that he relapsed with drugs."
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President Joe Biden's brother, James, Hunter's uncle has been in court (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi took the stand for the defence on Friday, telling jurors about visiting her dad while he was at a California rehab centre weeks before he bought the gun. She told jurors that he had seemed "hopeful" and to be improving, and she told him she was proud of him. As she was dismissed from the stand, she paused to hug her dad before leaving the courtroom.
The defence on Friday did not rule out calling one more witness, but it was unclear who that could be. Hunter's lawyers had previously said they planned to call Joe Biden's brother, James as a witness and he was at the courthouse on Friday. Testimony from other family members could open the door for more deeply personal messages to be introduced to the jury.
President Joe Biden said last week that he would accept the jury's verdict and has ruled out a pardon for his son. First Lady Jill Biden was in court every day last week to support Hunter, except on Thursday when she was with the President in France for D-Day anniversary events. It seemed as though Hunter Biden might have escaped prosecution in the gun case entirely, but a deal last summer with prosecutors fell apart after US District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was nominated by former Republican President Donald Trump, expressed concerns about it. Subsequently, Hunter Biden was indicted on three felony gun charges.
He also faces a trial set for September on felony charges alleging he failed to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years. If found guilty in the gun case, Hunter Biden could face up to 25 years in prison, although first-time offenders rarely receive the maximum sentence, and it's uncertain whether the judge would sentence him to jail time.
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