Hunter Biden found guilty of lying about drug use to illegally buy gun
Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden, was found guilty Tuesday of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a gun, making him the first child of a sitting American president to be convicted of a crime.
Twelve jurors in Wilmington, Del., federal court found him guilty on all three felony counts against him after deliberating for about three hours, beginning Monday afternoon.
Hunter Biden, 54, lightly nodded his head after the verdict was read and stared straight ahead, but otherwise showed little reaction. He then patted his lawyer Abbe Lowell on the back and hugged another member of his legal team.
After the decision was announced, the U.S. president said he would accept the outcome of the 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,” the president said in a statement.
Prosecutors had argued Hunter Biden was in the throes of crack cocaine addiction when he bought a gun in 2018, and that he had broken the law by lying about it when he filled out a mandatory gun-purchase form for a Colt Cobra revolver.
Defence lawyers said he was not using drugs at that time and did not consider himself an addict.
Jurors had to have been unanimous on each count against Hunter Biden. They found him guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
Sentencing to come no later than October
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 U.S. presidential election.
Sentencing guidelines for the gun charges are 15 to 21 months — and a maximum sentence would be up to 25 years in prison — 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.
Hunter Biden, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, is a first-time offender, so is not expected to get anywhere near the maximum when Judge Maryellen Noreika hands down a sentence.
The verdict comes less than two weeks after the criminal conviction of former U.S. president Donald Trump, now the first former U.S. president to be found guilty of a felony and the Republican challenger to Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 election.
Trump, who was 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.
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, with the current president having said last week he would not pardon his son if he were to be convicted.
The Hunter Biden case was brought by U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel David Weiss, a Trump appointee.
Facing tax charges
Weiss has also charged Hunter Biden with three felony and six misdemeanor tax offences in California, alleging he failed to pay $1.4 million US 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 spiralling addiction in the weeks before and after he bought the gun in October 2018.
The Current19:15Hunter Biden explores tragedy and addiction in his memoir Beautiful Things
Matt Galloway talks to Hunter Biden about his new book, Beautiful Things, about his experience of tragedy and trauma from a young age, the addiction issues that followed — and how it all played into his father’s fight to become president of the United States.
Prosecutors also showed text messages, photos and bank records that they said showed Hunter 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.
The defence 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.
Published at Tue, 11 Jun 2024 15:23:03 +0000
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Alito questions if left and right can compromise in secret recording
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is heard questioning whether compromise between the left and right is possible in a conversation posted on social media Monday. The conservative justice is also heard agreeing with a woman who says the United States should return “to a place of godliness.”
The audio was posted on X by liberal filmmaker Lauren Windsor. She said it was recorded at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner last week.
Reuters reported that Windsor said in an email that she attended the June 3 dinner as a dues-paying member, posed as a conservative Christian and approached Alito.
“One side or the other is going to win,” Alito said. “There can be a way of working, a way of living together peacefully, but it’s difficult, you know, because there are differences on fundamental things that really can’t be compromised.”
Windsor then told Alito: “I think that the solution really is like winning the moral argument. Like, people in this country who believe in God have got to keep fighting for that, to return our country to a place of godliness.”
“I agree with you,” Alito responded.
Windsor also spoke with Chief Justice John Roberts, who rejected a similar argument. When Windsor suggested the court should lead the nation on a “Christian” path, Roberts responded, “I don’t know if that’s true.”
The court declined to comment on the recordings.
According to a report from Reuters, James Duff, the executive director of the Supreme Court Historical Society, said in an emailed statement: “We condemn the surreptitious recording of Justices at the event, which is inconsistent with the entire spirit of the evening.”
Alito says wife responsible for flags
Alito has rejected calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases involving former president Donald Trump and Jan. 6 defendants after stories emerged about controversial flags that flew above his homes.
In letters to members of Congress, Alito said his wife, Martha-Ann, was responsible for flying both an upside-down flag over their home in 2021 and an “Appeal to Heaven” flag at their New Jersey beach house last year. Both flags were like those carried by rioters who violently stormed the Capitol in January 2021 while echoing Trump’s false claims of election fraud.
Martha-Ann Alito spoke to Windsor about her flags on another recording made at the dinner, according to an additional edited recording the filmmaker posted online.
Alito said she wanted to fly a religious flag because “I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month,” an apparent reference to celebratory 2SLGBTQ+ displays during Pride month in June.
Her husband asked her not to, she told Windsor. “He’s like, ‘Oh please don’t put up a flag.”‘
Martha-Ann Alito also imagined making a flag with “yellow and orange flames” and the Italian word for shame in the centre.
Roberts declined an invitation to meet with Democratic senators to talk about Supreme Court ethics and the flags that flew outside Alito’s homes.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Windsor said she recorded the conversations with Alito and Roberts because “the Supreme Court is shrouded in secrecy, and they’re refusing to submit to any accountability in the face of overwhelming evidence of serious ethics breaches. I think that it’s justified to take these types of measures.”
Published at Tue, 11 Jun 2024 14:01:22 +0000
