The president’s son, who was convicted of three felonies, could face a stiffer sentence if he is convicted in a separate tax case scheduled for September.
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Hunter Biden said in a statement that he was “disappointed” by the verdict, but that he was grateful for the love and support of his family and friends.
Hunter Biden, the president’s son, was found guilty on three felony counts related to buying a gun while he was in the throes of drug addiction. On Oct. 12, 2018, he filled out the required federal background check form, marking “no” to a question about his drug use.
His lawyers argued that the special counsel who brought the case, David C. Weiss, had no evidence that Mr. Biden used drugs the day of his purchase or in the surrounding period.
Before deciding to convict him on all three charges, the jury heard about Mr. Biden’s spiraling addiction to crack cocaine from women in his life, as well as in Mr. Biden’s own words, which the prosecution shared by using excerpts from the audiobook of his memoir.
Here are some takeaways.
The verdict comes amid questions about the intersection of politics and the justice system.
The verdict in Mr. Biden’s trial came just weeks after former President Donald J. Trump was convicted in a Manhattan courtroom of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a porn star. Both trials were surrounded by partisan dynamics and questions about the criminal justice system’s ability to operate without regard to politics.
Mr. Biden’s trial was held in the Biden family’s hometown, in the middle of a presidential campaign and amid intense pressure from Republicans to find criminality by Hunter Biden. The fact that juries have now convicted both the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and the son of his opponent, the sitting president, will not end debate about politics and the courts. But it might keep the issue from becoming further inflamed.
The trial has been a painful reminder of the struggles the Biden family has weathered over decades.
In his 2021 memoir, Hunter Biden laid bare his unrelenting abuse of crack cocaine. Witness testimony and text messages added to the damaging portrait of the president’s son, a stark reminder of his yearslong troubles at a time when his father is in a close re-election race.
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Source: nytimes.com