Jury selection begins Monday in a federal gun case against President Joe Biden’s son Hunter after the collapse of a deal with prosecutors would have avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election.
Hunter claims he’s being unfairly targeted by the Justice Department. The Associated Press reports “Hunter Biden is also facing a separate trial in California in September on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes. Both cases were to have been resolved through a deal with prosecutors last July, the culmination of a yearlong investigation into his business dealings.” He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
The Associated Press reports of jury selection:
the judge will ask a group of prospective jurors a series of questions to determine whether they can serve impartially on the jury, including whether they have donated to political campaigns or run for political office. She will ask whether their views about the 2024 presidential campaign prevent them from being impartial.
She’s also going to ask whether prospective jurors believe Hunter Biden is being prosecuted because his father is the president. Also, she’ll ask about firearms purchasing and addiction issues, including: “Do you believe someone who is addicted to drugs should not be charged with a crime?”
At the time, Judge Maryellen Noreika questioned some “unusual aspects of the deal, which included a proposed guilty plea to misdemeanor offenses to resolve the tax crimes and a diversion agreement on the gun charge, which meant as long as he stayed out of trouble for two years the case would be dismissed” adds the AP.
The lawyers squabbled over the agreement, could not come to a resolution, and the deal fell apart. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed the top investigator as a special counsel in August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted, adds the outlet.
Prosecutors in the case against Hunter plan to call as witnesses Hunter Biden’s ex-wife and his brother’s widow, Hallie, with whom he became romantically involved.
If he were to be convicted, Hunter could face up to 25 years in prison, though first-time offenders generally do not receive the maximum and it’s unclear whether the judge would give him time behind bars at all.
The case against Hunter Biden stems from a period he was battling heavy drug addiction, but lied on the forms saying he did not use drugs. Prosecutors have said they’re planning to use as evidence his published memoir in which he admitted he was addicted to crack during the time period in 2018. They may also introduce contents from a laptop that he left at a Delaware repair shop and never retrieved.