The popular jury has declared Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, guilty of the three charges of which he was accused in the trial for the purchase and possession of a firearm held this month in Wilmington (Delaware). After three hours of deliberation, Hunter Biden has been found guilty of the three crimes, punishable by a maximum of 25 years in prison. The judge will have to set the sentence later. This Tuesday’s ruling is a blow for the president less than five months before the presidential elections in which he aspires to re-election. Never before had the son of a president sat on the bench.
The sentence against Hunter Biden comes weeks after another popular jury, in this case from New York, declared former President Donald Trump guilty of 34 crimes for falsifying invoices, checks and accounting records in relation to payments to silence his relationship with the actress of porn film Stormy Daniels and thus illegally influencing the 2016 presidential elections. Biden said after that ruling that “no one is above the law.” The prosecutor in Hunter Biden’s case used those same words in his final argument and reiterated them this Tuesday after the jury’s ruling. Unanimity of the 12 members of the jury was required for conviction.
After being found guilty, Hunter Biden left the Wilmington (Delaware) court where the trial was held without making a statement, but later issued a statement: “Today I am more grateful for the love and support I experienced this last week.” by Melissa [Cohen Biden, su mujer], my family, my friends and my community are disappointed by the result. Recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience that gift day by day,” he said. The president has promised to respect the outcome, while he has shown his love and support for his son and has headed to Wilmington to accompany him. Last week, Biden ruled out granting him a presidential pardon.
Hunter Biden purchased a Colt Cobra revolver on October 12, 2018 at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, a firearms store off Highway 202, north of Wilmington, Delaware. He filled out a form in which he denied being an illegal user or addict of any stimulant, narcotic drug or any other controlled substance. The prosecutor went to great lengths at trial to try to prove that he was. He then kept that gun in his possession for 11 days, until his then-partner, the widow of his brother Beau, threw it into a dumpster, where he found it someone searching through the trash.
Hunter Biden has been found guilty of three crimes: false statement when purchasing a firearm; false statement in documents to be kept on file by the gun seller and illegal possession of a firearm. The maximum penalties that apply to them are up to 10 years for the first offense, 5 for the second and another 10 for the third, along with fines of up to $250,000 for each of them and up to three years of supervised release.
For someone with no criminal record, rehabilitated and when the illegal purchase and possession of the weapon is not accompanied by any other violent crime, prison sentences are not frequent. In fact, it is not even common for an isolated crime like this to be prosecuted. “Hunter Biden should not be more responsible than any other citizen convicted of this same conduct,” said the prosecutor, David Weiss, this Tuesday. The judge has not set a date to hand down a sentence, although she has indicated that it is normal for her decision to arrive within a period of four months. Hunter Biden’s conviction could be known in the final stretch of the presidential campaign on November 5.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.
Subscribe
Second trial in California
The defendant initially admitted the illegal purchase and possession of the weapon as part of an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office to be sentenced with lesser penalties for two tax crimes. The Prosecutor’s Office waived pursuing the purchase of the gun in exchange for him staying away from drugs for two years and for him to renounce owning a firearm in the future. The agreement, however, derailed at the moment when it was to be endorsed. Judge Maryellen Noreika, appointed by Trump, rejected it due to the different interpretation of the agreement between the prosecution and the defense and pressure from the Republicans. Afterwards, he pleaded not guilty. In parallel, and although he regularized the pending payments, the president’s son has been charged since December with nine alleged tax crimes before the California courts. That second trial is scheduled for September.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued that prosecutors had failed to prove their allegations. He told jurors that the fact that his client has a famous last name did not change the fact that he was presumed innocent — like any other defendant — until proven guilty. “With my dying breath in this case, I ask for the only verdict that will force prosecutors to do what the law requires of them”: a not guilty verdict, Lowell said, which failed to convince jurors.
Both the charges for the purchase and possession of the revolver and the alleged tax crimes concern only Hunter Biden. Republicans have spent years unsuccessfully trying to find links showing that Joe Biden benefited from his son’s business dealings, that he collected commissions and other irregularities. His harassment of the president – through requests and interrogations of supposed witnesses and the opening of an investigation for a possible impeachment with which to continue eroding him― has reached a dead end after not having found any evidence against President Biden.
Much of the accusations centered on the testimony of a confidant who said that Joe Biden had collected a commission of five million dollars from Ukraine. It was later proven that it was all a fabrication by a person with ties to Russian intelligence, and the confidant that the Republicans had blindly believed in is being prosecuted for perjury.
Even so, the Trump campaign has stated in a statement that this ruling is a “distraction” from what it considers, without providing evidence, “the true crimes” of the president’s family.
Biden: “I am the president, but I am also a father”
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, reiterated this Tuesday after hearing the jury’s ruling that he will respect the outcome of the case: “As I said last week, I am the president, but I am also a father. Jill and I love our son, and we are very proud of the man he is today,” he said in a statement.
“So many families who have had loved ones struggle with addiction understand the proud feeling of seeing a loved one come out on the other side and be so strong and resilient in their recovery. As I also said last week, I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process while Hunter considers an appeal,” adds the president, who
concludes, “Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with love and support. Nothing will ever change that.”
Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.
