On second day in Hunter Biden gun trial, testimony addresses laptop, texts, drug addiction

June 4 (UPI) -- The second day of Hunter Biden's federal gun trial wrapped up Tuesday afternoon after an FBI agent was cross-examined about Biden's well-publicized laptop that was seized by federal authorities.

"It doesn't matter who you are or what your name is," prosecutor Derek Hines said Tuesday morning at the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Delaware as he began his opening statement by inferring equal treatment for all is a key tenet under America's jurisprudence system -- even for the son of the nation's elected leader.

Hines outlined Biden's past drug use and how the son of the president allegedly lied on a federal form that asks about addiction in relation to gun ownership.

The prosecution later called FBI agent Erika Jensen as the first witness to discuss the laptop, which was subpoenaed in 2019. Jensen said under cross-examination that Biden might not have been using drugs continuously from 2015 to 2019, which covers when he bought the gun in 2018.

Biden, 54, the son of President Joe Biden, has pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of possession of a firearm in connection with a 2018 purchase in Delaware of a Colt revolver while he was admittedly using and possibly addicted to drugs.

The prosecution spent a considerable amount of time going over the timeline and "repetitive nature, low lows and high highs" of Biden's drug addiction, which included reading through a series of text messages in which the president's son talks about as much, including possible drug deals.

Biden had at some points in text messages supposedly called himself "a liar and a thief," as well as a drug user.

He "chose to lie," Hines said as he outlined how, he said, Biden allegedly bought the gun, with cash, while knowing he was addicted at the time to drugs.

The prosecution read excerpts from Biden's memoir Beautiful Things while his defense attorney Abbe Lowell tried to highlight discrepancies in the prosecutions arguments.

Lowell attempted to show how Hunter Biden was not at that time addicted to drugs, as alleged by the government, and, therefore, did not "knowingly" lie on a federal form during the supposed 2018 gun purchase. She also tried to show that Biden had little interest at the time in buying the gun and was lead to it by the salesman.

Text messages were shown from Hallie Biden, Hunter's then-partner and who had been married to his late brother Beau Biden, invoices from Hunter Biden's 2018 rehab stay in California, in addition to half-naked images of Biden and some of drugs on the laptop in question, which the FBI says had been seized via subpoena from a computer store.

"Did you take that from me?" a text from Hunter to Hallie Biden, who later will be a witness, read in reference to the gun that was later found in a dumpster.

"You're being totally irresponsible and unhinged," he wrote back in the text.

"I just want you to be safe. That was not safe," Hallie Biden replied back.

Hunter Biden, the prosecution said, "isn't charged with possessing drugs" and, "We would not be here today if he was just a drug addict."

The court will resume at 9 a.m. EDT Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday morning as she entered the courtroom, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, appointed by former President Donald Trump and backed by Democrats, said "We lost a juror overnight." Among the 12 jurors picked on Monday, six men and six women, there also were four alternates to fill juror slots for such occasions.

Noreika, who has a varied past with donating to both Republican and Democrat candidates, said the now-former juror, a woman, "begged" to be let go from her role, citing transportation issues and adding she did not realize that she had to be at the courthouse every day as a resident of Milford, Del., an hour south of Wilmington, where the courthouse is located.

First lady Jill Biden was seen sitting in the same seat she was in the day before this time with daughter Ashley Biden and Hunter Biden's wife, Melissa Cohen Biden.

In the morning while the court waited for other jurors to arrive and opening arguments to commence, the judge took the time to speak to several motions before her, including one from Biden's lawyer, who requested certain photos of Biden be excluded as evidence.

Noreika allowed the photos to be used because they contained "circumstantial evidence" of Biden's admitted past with drug use

This came on the heels of Trump's conviction on 34 counts related to falsifying records to facilitate hush-money payments in New York with both trials facing extra scrutiny in the shadow of an election year.

Special counsel David Weiss, an appointee of Trump, brought the charges against the president's son after he was named by Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee, to investigate the alleged crime last year. Biden's attorneys contended that Weiss "buckled under political pressure" after a plea deal crumbled last year.

The cases mark the first time in American history that an ex-president has ever been criminally convicted in a court of law, and the first time the child of a sitting president was ever put on trial during their father's presidency and all in the middle of a presidential election.

If convicted on all counts, Hunter Biden could face up 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines, according to court filings. However, because Biden does not have a violent past and is an alleged first-time offender, it is possible he could get a lighter sentence.