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 several hours.
Biden, 54, lightly nodded his head after the verdict was read, but otherwise showed little reaction. He then patted his lawyer Abbe Lowell on the back and hugged another member of his legal team.
Prosecutors had argued Biden was in the throes of 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 Biden.
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, 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 and his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, arrive for the reading of the verdict in his trial on criminal gun charges in Wilmington on Tuesday. (Hannah Beier/Reuters)
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.
