Hunter Biden trial begins Monday in Delaware: What you need to know about the case
The felony gun trial for Hunter Biden will be the first in U.S. history for the child of a sitting president, and it comes days after another historic first: the felony trial and conviction of former President Donald Trump.
The proceeding will occur inside a Wilmington, Delaware, federal courthouse and is expected to explore the depths of Biden's drug use through the context of a bizarre series of events in which he purchased a gun in the state that authorities recovered after it was thrown into a trash can in a grocery store weeks later.
The following is a rundown of the case:
What did Biden do?
In October 2018, Hunter Biden walked into the StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply gun shop on U.S. Route 202 north of Wilmington and purchased a .38 special revolver along with other items.
People who purchase firearms are required to provide identification and fill out a standardized form collected by federal authorities. On that form, they are asked whether they are an unlawful user or are addicted to controlled substances, narcotics and other listed substances. Biden is accused of answering "no" to that question on the form.
Biden has been open about his longtime struggles with crack cocaine addiction. He's written about it in his book and discussed it during a court hearing last year, stating he's been sober since 2019.
He was able to purchase the gun and kept it for less than a month before it was thrown by his lover into a trash receptacle outside the upscale Janssen's Market grocery store in Greenville. This prompted a Delaware State Police search for a man who found the gun while collecting recyclables outside the store and − several years later − drew federal prosecutors' attention back to the form.
Why is that allegedly a crime?
Biden faces three firearms felonies.
The first two relate specifically to the form he filled out to purchase the gun, accusing Biden of lying about this drug use on the form.
The third charge pertains to Biden's possession of a firearm while he was allegedly an unlawful user or addicted to controlled substances.
What must prosecutors prove to the jury?
For the first charge, prosecutors must generally convince the jury that:
Biden filled out the form and that he made a false statement, specifically that he was an unlawful user of or addicted to controlled substances.
That he knew that statement was false.
That the statement was meant to deceive the salesman on a fact material to the sale. In other words: the sale would not have occurred had he answered otherwise.
The second charge is similar. Prosecutors need to show that Biden knowingly made a false statement, but need not show the statement was material to the transaction.
For the third charge, prosecutors need to prove:
Biden was either an unlawful user of or addicted to controlled substances.
That he knowingly possessed the firearm.
That he knew he was an unlawful user of or addicted to controlled substances.
What is a user and an 'addict'?
To find Biden was an unlawful user of controlled substances or addicted to drugs, the jury must have a common definition of what those terms mean in order to apply the evidence to the question. This has been a hotly litigated topic in pretrial motions and continues to be where defense attorneys are concentrating their litigation days ahead of trial.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika granted the prosecutors' motion barring defense attorneys from arguing or suggesting that they must show Biden used controlled substances the day of the firearm purchase in order to get a guilty verdict.
Prosecutors successfully argued that relevant definitions dictate they need to simply show that the "unlawful use has occurred recently enough to indicate that the individual is actively engaged in such conduct."
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However, the debate on the issue continues as of Wednesday in litigation over what definitions jurors will work with. On Wednesday, defense attorney submitted arguments seeking a more constrained definition of "addict" and unlawful user than what prosecutors have sought in their proposed jury instructions.
Among other requests, defense filings request specific instructions telling the jury that if they do not find that Biden knew himself to fit the definition of drug user or "addict" at the time he purchased the gun, the verdict must be not guilty.
How the judge decides these definitions and instructions could be key to how Biden defends himself at trial.
What evidence and witnesses will prosecutors use?
Regardless of what definitions are ultimately presented to the jury, prosecutors have a mountain of evidence showing Biden's drug use.
A primary vein of evidence will be Biden’s own words exploring his drug use in his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things.” In it, he said he was in active addiction for four years leading to March 2019 and speaks about rehab and relapses, according to excerpts identified by prosecutors.
Prosecutors will also lean on his text messages: missives like, “I was sleeping in a car smoking crack on 4th Street and Rodney.”
Additionally, they will call close family witnesses including what court documents indicate are his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, as well as Hallie Biden, the widow of Biden’s brother and Hunter Biden’s former lover. In court, prosecutors said these witnesses will testify to Biden’s conduct, as well as verify digital communications entered as evidence in the trial.
Prosecutors also intend to call witnesses from the gun shop to testify about the purchase of the revolver.
What will Biden's defense argue?
So far, defense attorneys have unsuccessfully sought to toss the case using arguments that the charges are legally defective.
As trial looms, his attorneys have hinted at a defense that emphasizes the requirement that prosecutors show that Biden knowingly lied about his status as an unlawful drug user when he filled out paperwork to purchase the gun.
Abbe Lowell, Biden's primary defense attorney, has sought permission to introduce at trial expert testimony from a specialist who can testify regarding a person with addiction’s understanding of and state of denial about their own addiction.
“Someone, like Mr. Biden who had just completed an 11-day rehabilitation program and lived with a sober companion after that, could surely believe he was not a present tense user or addict,” Lowell wrote in court documents filed earlier this month.
Prosecutors have argued that Lowell submitted paperwork to admit that witness too late, asking the judge to bar such testimony.
Secondarily, Lowell has hinted he may seek a line of questioning that attacks the credibility of the gun shop employees responsible for keeping the form on which Biden is accused of lying.
This avenue was opened by the fact that the form was altered between when it was first emailed to federal authorities in 2018 and when the original was turned over to federal investigators years later. Employees at the gun shop added another form of identification verification to the form after the fact that may not have actually been submitted by Biden, according to court documents.
In court, Lowell said the alteration calls the credibility of the shop employees to question and presents questions over whether the witnesses are obtaining a benefit from prosecutors since they appeared to have, like Biden, written false information on the form.
Who will decide whether Biden is guilty?
A jury of 12 picked from residents of New Castle County will evaluate the evidence and be tasked with rendering the verdict. Because of the high-profile nature of the defendant, hundreds are being called into the courthouse for jury selection on Monday.
The court will use pre-decided questions to cull potential jurors who can't be impartial down to a smaller pool. Then, prosecutors and defense attorneys will have the choice to strike a certain number of prospective jurors. This process could take days.
Where is this happening and how long will it take?
After jury selection, each side will present opening statements and prosecutors will begin to call witnesses.
Prosecutors have said they expect to take three days to present their case. Lowell, Biden's attorney, indicated he will possibly also present a case and said if he does, it won't take double the time prosecutors have projected for their own.
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In all, the court expects the case to last about two weeks.
The trial will take place in the federal courthouse on King Street in downtown Wilmington.
A piece of trivia: The court is housed in the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building, named after the former U.S. senator a young Joe Biden defeated in 1972 to launch his political career in Washington D.C.
Who is the judge?
Federal Judge Maryellen Noreika is presiding over the case.
Her career before the bench centered on civil litigation: intellectual property cases and corporate litigation in federal and state courts. Later on, she'd gain experience representing children in Delaware's Family Court.
In 2017, Sens. Tom Carper and Chris Coons put forward Noreika and Colm F. Connolly to fill judicial vacancies in the Delaware District. Then-President Donald Trump nominated Noreika and Connolly, and she was confirmed the following year.
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Her political affiliations and contributions have been mixed, according to past reporting.
Noreika gained national attention last year when a plea deal for Biden fell apart under her pointed questioning of the parties. Both sides went into the hearing having agreed to a deal that would have resolved both the gun case, as well as pending tax charges against Biden with a misdemeanor plea and recommended sentence of probation only.
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However, Noreika repeatedly complained that both parties wanted her "rubber stamp" on the "unusual" agreement and subjected them to hours of questions. Her line of inquiry ultimately exposed differences in each side's interpretation of the deal and led to her ordering further legal briefings that prompted the sides to abandon the deal.
Could the president's son go to prison?
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, though Biden is likely to get a shorter sentence if convicted. It is atypical for defendants to get a maximum sentence when they are first-time offenders like Biden.
What about Biden's taxes?
Separately, Biden faces tax evasion charges in a California case now set to go to trial this fall.
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Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Historic Hunter Biden gun trial set for Monday: Here are the details.
