Inside Hunter Biden’s Federal Delaware Gun Charges Case

With the fall of a Delaware judge’s gavel, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s son, became the first child of a sitting president to be criminally charged.

Prosecutors allege the younger Biden, 54, lied about his drug use on application forms when he purchased a handgun in 2018.

He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all three federal counts, in a case that began Monday with jury selection.

Mr. Biden pleaded not guilty of the charges.

The trial – which takes place as his father campaigns for re-election – will likely see prosecutors delve into graphic details of Mr Biden’s crack addiction, potentially providing fodder for the president’s political enemies.

Although he repeatedly declined to comment on the trial, in a statement released the morning the trial began, the elder Biden said he had “boundless love” and “confidence” in his son.

“Hunter’s resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he brought to his recovery inspire us,” the president added.

Here’s what we know about the case.

Mr. Biden faces three federal charges in the case: two counts of making false statements and one count of illegal possession of firearms.

The charges all relate to his purchase of a revolver from a Delaware gun store in October 2018, which he kept for approximately 11 days.

By Mr. Biden’s own admission, he was in the grip of a “real addiction” to crack at the time.

The two false statement charges stem from allegations that he lied about his drug use on a federally mandated form when he purchased the gun.

Specifically, prosecutors allege he falsely claimed he was “not an illegal user or addicted to any stimulant narcotic” when he purchased a Colt Cobra Special revolver.

The third charge relates to his possession of a firearm while allegedly using drugs.

The gun was dumped and discovered at a Greenville, Delaware, grocery store, sparking an investigation that ultimately led investigators back to the forms.

To convict Mr. Biden, prosecutors will have to convince jurors that he knowingly made false statements on the form in an attempt to deceive the store that sold him the gun.

Additionally, they will have to prove that Mr. Biden was a drug user or addicted to drugs and that he took possession of the gun despite knowing it.

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika has already ruled that defense lawyers cannot argue that the prosecution can only obtain a guilty verdict by proving that Mr. Biden was using drugs on the day he bought the drug. ‘armed.

Instead, at a pretrial hearing, the judge agreed with prosecutors’ argument that they only needed to prove that “the illegal use (had) occurred recently enough to indicate that the individual (was) actively engaged in such conduct.”

In court filings before the trial began, prosecutors suggested they would rely, in part, on deeply personal text messages and other communications made while Mr. Biden was in the throes of addiction .

In one of those text messages cited in court documents, Mr. Biden describes himself as a “liar, a thief, a blamer and a user, and I am a delusional and an addict unlike all the other addicts that you know”.

The prosecution is also expected to rely on testimony from witnesses including ex-wife Kathleen Buhle and Mr Biden’s ex-partner Hallie Biden – who is also the widow of Mr Biden’s brother Beau.

Prosecutors will also be able to cite Mr. Biden’s own 2021 memoir, in which he details his experiences as a drug user “on his feet twenty-four hours a day, smoking every 15 minutes, seven days a week.”

“All my energy was devoted to smoking dope and arranging to buy dope—feeding the beast,” he writes in the book.

Although Mr. Biden himself has remained tight-lipped about the lawsuit, legal documents filed by his lawyers suggest they will focus on the extent to which Mr. Biden was aware of his addiction when the purchase ended, as well than on the quality of the evidence itself.

His lead attorney, Father Lowell, unsuccessfully asked the court for permission to call an expert witness who could testify about an addict’s understanding of his or her substance abuse problems.

In an interview with the BBC after Mr. Biden’s not guilty plea, Dru Stevenson, a professor at the South Texas College of Law, said that charges of illegal gun possession usually result in a “case slam dunk.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that (Mr. Biden) will be convicted.”

The third charge, relating to Mr. Biden’s alleged possession of a gun while he was a drug user, is considered unusual because it can be difficult to prove that a person is a drug user and possesses gun.

“It’s very rare that they will go after someone and prosecute them for this,” Professor Stevenson said. “But he is a high-profile person and members of Congress have demanded that he be prosecuted.”

Among the most notable pieces of evidence in the trial will likely be information contained in Mr. Biden’s infamous laptop, which has been the subject of intense media speculation and attention from conservative outlets.

The laptop has also been at the center of unproven theories linking Mr Biden and his father to corruption, which they both deny.

Mr. Biden’s own lawyers have argued that the computer was tampered with before falling into the hands of investigators.

The special counsel appointed to oversee the Hunter Biden investigations, David Weiss, said the tampering argument was a “conspiracy theory” with “no evidence to support it.”

In a filing in May, prosecutors wrote that the laptop contained “significant evidence” of Mr. Biden’s guilt.

The two false statement charges each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years, while the third charge carries a maximum sentence of five years, meaning Mr Biden could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

However, actual sentences for federal crimes are generally less than the maximum penalties specified by law.

If Mr. Biden is convicted, the judge overseeing the case will ultimately determine the sentence after considering sentencing guidelines and various other legal factors.

In addition to the firearms charges in Delaware, Mr. Biden faces separate federal charges in California over allegations that he evaded a tax assessment, failed to properly report and pay his taxes and filed a fraudulent tax return.

Several months after a plea deal that would have covered both sets of charges collapsed spectacularly last year, Mr. Biden also pleaded not guilty to tax charges.