Hunter Biden attorneys re-submit request for new gun trial
Attorneys for Hunter Biden re-submitted a motion requesting a new criminal trial after the first son was found guilty on all charges related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018.
Biden's defense attorney Abbe Lowell filed the motion Monday, arguing the federal court in Delaware lacked jurisdiction to go to trial earlier this month. The motion comes one week after Lowell filed a similar motion, but quickly withdrew it without explanation.
Biden was found guilty on June 11 of lying about his drug use when purchasing a firearm in 2018. Specifically, he was found guilty on three charges: making a false statement in the purchase of a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
Biden had pleaded not guilty in the case.
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The case marked the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president's child was on trial.
Prosecutors worked to prove that Biden lied on a federal firearm form, known as ATF Form 4473, in October 2018, when he answered "No" when asked if he is an unlawful user of substances or addicted to controlled substances.
Biden has a well-documented history of drug abuse, including in his 2021 memoir "Beautiful Things," which was repeatedly referenced by both prosecutors and Biden's defense team during the seven-day trial this month. The memoir walks readers through Biden's highs and lows with addiction to crack cocaine and attempts to get sober.
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Lowell did not dispute Biden's long history with substance abuse amid the trial, which also includes an addiction to alcohol. The defense instead argued that on the day Biden bought the Cobra Colt .38, he did not consider himself an active drug addict, citing the first son's stint in rehab ahead of the October 2018 purchase.
Prosecutors, however, argued Biden was addicted to crack cocaine before, during and after he bought the handgun. In addition to citing Biden's memoir, the prosecution team also presented the jury with text messages Biden shared with family and apparent drug dealers to prove his addiction around the time period he purchased the firearm.
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Just one day after the gun purchase, prosecutors showed the court that Biden texted Hallie Biden, his sister-in-law turned girlfriend, to say he was "waiting for a dealer named Mookie." A day after that text, he texted that he was "sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th Street and Rodney" in Wilmington.
The jury took roughly three hours across two days to reach the guilty verdict. The three charges carry a total maximum prison time of 25 years. Biden, however, is a first-time offender, making it unlikely he will face the full penalties.
He will be sentenced later this year, though no date has yet been issued.
The motion for a new trial comes after The Disciplinary Counsel for Washington, D.C., filed a "notice of discipline" with the D.C. Court of Appeals last week that seeks to suspend Biden's law license in the district following the guilty verdict.
The D.C. Bar's website still lists Robert Hunter Biden as being in "good standing" and "active" as of Monday afternoon. Biden earned a law degree from Yale University in 1996 and previously worked for law firm Boies Schiller Flexner.