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Hunter Biden’s defense team is likely “banking on” the jury deadlocking on a verdict in the first son’s historic criminal gun trial, a legal expert told Fox News Digital.
“That’s what Hunter Biden and his defense team are banking on in this case,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith told Fox News Digital when asked if the trial could result in a hung jury or even acquittal.
“Legally speaking, it didn’t really seem like Hunter Biden has a defense to these charges,” Smith continued. “Particularly, some of the jurors might have had family or friends struggling with substance abuse issues and have some sympathy for Hunter Biden and his substance abuse issues.”
Hunter Biden’s trial began last Monday in a federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, where he faces three felony firearm offenses regarding the 2018 purchase of a .38 revolver from a gun shop in the state. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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Hunter Biden departs from federal court, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Prosecutors are working to prove that Hunter Biden lied on a federal firearm form, known as ATF Form 4473, in October 2018 when he ticked a box labeled “No” when asked if he is an unlawful user of a firearm or addicted to controlled substances.
It is the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president’s child is on trial.
Hunter Biden has a well-documented history of drug addiction, most notably detailed in his memoir “Beautiful Things,” which walks readers through his need for crack cocaine every 20 minutes at the height of his addiction, how he linked up with a female drug dealer he nicknamed “Bicycles” who sold him crack cocaine on the streets of Washington, D.C., and how he could serve as a “crack daddy” to dealers due to his spiraling addiction.
The defense team does not deny Hunter Biden’s history with alcohol and drug addiction. Instead, they are working to build an argument that on the day Hunter Biden purchased the hand gun, Oct. 12, 2018, that he was not using crack cocaine and did not consider himself an active addict, citing his recent stint in a rehab.
An evidence photo presented by the prosecution shows the gun that Hunter Biden purchased. (U.S. Government Exhibit)
Prosecutors are working to prove that Hunter Biden was addicted to crack cocaine, before, after and during the purchase of the handgun.
Smith continued in his comments to Fox News Digital that it is likely the jurors could deadlock and not reach a unanimous verdict.
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“It’s certainly a possibility that you could have a hung jury. It’s a very real possibility. You only need one juror as a holdout,” Smith explained.
“But even those who may have some sympathy for Hunter Biden and his struggle with substance abuse, I thought Hallie Biden’s testimony was problematic for him.”
Hunter Biden arrives at federal court with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Wilmington. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Hallie Biden is the widow of Beau Biden, Hunter Biden’s brother who died in 2015 from brain cancer. Hallie Biden dated Hunter Biden following her husband’s death, and was called as a witness in the case by the prosection team.
Hallie Biden walked the jury through the rise and fall of their relationship, which focused on how Biden introduced her to crack cocaine before she ultimately became sober. Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden have since ended the relationship, with Hallie Biden joining court with her husband, John Hopkins Anning, whom she married just last weekend.
A court sketch depicts Hallie Biden testifying on the stand during Hunter Biden’s trial in Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday, June 6, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)
“I found [crack] and googled it because I didn’t know what it was,” Hallie Biden told the court of the first time she saw the drug in her home. “[Hunter Biden] told me what it was, crack cocaine.”
Hallie Biden, who testified under immunity, said she smoked crack cocaine and even accompanied Hunter Biden on drug deals. Hallie Biden is also a key figure in the trial, as she found Hunter’s Colt gun in the console of his pickup truck 11 days after he purchased the firearm. She testified she tossed the gun in a public trashcan outside of an upscale grocery market in Wilmington because she feared Hunter Biden would hurt himself or others.
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Hunter Biden is facing three charges, false statement in purchase of a firearm; false statement related to information required to be kept by federal firearms licensed dealer; and possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
The total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.
An evidence photo presented by the prosecution shows an image of Hunter Biden on April 11, 2018. (U.S. Government Exhibit)
Smith noted that even though a possibility of a hung jury is in the cards, prosecutors have presented a strong case against the first son.
“Based on the charges that have been brought and the evidence produced at trial, it certainly seems prosecutors have done their homework and done enough to convince the jury to convict Hunter Biden,” he said.
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In addition to playing excerpts of the audio book version of Hunter’s memoir – which was narrated by the first son – prosecutors have also presented evidence such as a brown pouch that contained the gun having trace amounts of cocaine on it, as well as questioning witnesses at the time of the gun purchase regarding Hunter’s drug use.
Prosecutors called on Hunter’s former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, who met Hunter when she was 24 and he was 48 at a strip club in New York City. She testified that Hunter “would want to smoke the second he woke up,” discussed photos she took of his drug paraphernalia in trashed hotel rooms, and even how he attempted to get sober by purging his body of drugs with frog venom called “kambo.”
Zoe Kestan, former girlfriend of Hunter Biden, departs federal court after testifying in his trial on criminal gun charges in Wilmington, June 5, 2024. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
Though Kestan knew Hunter Biden before and after his purchase of the Colt revolver in October 2018, the pair did not speak that month, rekindling their relationship in November 2018 before it officially ended.
The jury also heard from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, who was married to Hunter Biden for more than 20 years, and recounted to the jury that she was “definitely worried, scared” after first discovering a crack pipe on the side porch of their home in Washington, D.C., in 2015.
Buhle said following the discovery of a crack pipe at their home in 2015, they participated in couple’s therapy before the marriage ended.
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The jury has also been presented with banking information showing thousands of dollars in cash withdrawals – a payment method often used for drug deals – and countless text messages of Hunter setting up drug deals, making references to drugs with language such as “party favor,” “baby powder” and “chore boy,” which is a type of scouring pad used as a filter for crack pipes.
The federal court before Hunter Biden arrives for his scheduled trial, Monday, June 3, 2024, in Wilmington. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The texts concerning drug references were from the lead-up and after the gun purchase. Though, one day after the gun purchase, Hunter Biden texted Hallie Biden that 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 defense team argues that Hallie Biden doesn’t know with certainty that Hunter Biden was conducting a drug deal on Oct. 13 or if he was smoking crack on a car on Oct. 14, and that he could have just been avoiding Hallie Biden.
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“One of the things Hunter Biden and his defense attorneys seem to be going for is that Hunter didn’t believe he was addicted,” Smith said, pointing to such texts as statements that “seem to undercut that argument.”
During jury selection last Monday, nearly all the more than 60 people called as potential jurors detailed to the court that they have family or friends who have struggled with addiction, which could lead to jurors feeling sympathetic for the president’s 54-year-old son. Delaware is also a small state where the Biden family’s roots run deep.
“The Bidens’ influence and their power in the state can’t be underestimated. But I think the sympathetic issue is the one that Hunter Biden’s legal team is focusing on,” Smith said.
Hunter Biden arrives with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden at federal court, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Wilmington. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The trial follows the unprecedented NY v. Trump trial, which found former President Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Following the verdict, President Biden highlighted that “no one is above the law.”
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Hunter Biden is also facing a criminal tax trial in California, which will begin in September, after he was charged with three felonies and six misdemeanors regarding $1.4 million in owed taxes. The taxes have since been paid. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty in that case.
First lady Jill Biden arrives ahead of Hunter Biden’s trial at federal court, Monday, June 3, 2024, in Wilmington. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
“The only reason this case is going to trial in Delaware and the tax case is going to trial in California is because the federal judge in Delaware rejected the sweetheart plea deal… that’s the only reason this case is even going to trial at all. That’s the only reason we, as the American people, are finding out a lot of this information,” Smith continued.
“Most Americans would be right to question the different treatment in both of those cases.”
Hunter Biden could testify in his criminal trial on Monday, according to his defense team. Defense attorney Abbe Lowell was heard saying following Friday’s lunch break that he will take the weekend to decide if he will call Biden to testify, and that he will notify Special Counsel David Weiss’ office of the decision.
Details surrounding the decision will be made public some time after 8:15 a.m. on Monday, when presiding Judge Maryellen Noreika requested both legal parties report back to the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
