June 11 (UPI) — A jury on Tuesday found Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, guilty on charges related to purchasing a firearm while using and being addicted to illegal drugs.
His three felony charges include making false statements in connection to buying a firearm, making a false statement with respect to information required to be kept in records and possession of a fireman by an individual who is an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
A verdict arrived Tuesday after jurors deliberated for three hours. They got brief instructions in the morning hours. A hung jury was not out of the question.
Hunter Biden, 54, faces up to 25 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. However, because he does not have a violent past and is a first-time offender, it is possible he could get a lighter sentence that does not involve prison.
The 12 jurors of six men and six women got dismissed for the day late Monday afternoon, about an hour after deliberations began in the case involving allegations that the son of President Joe Biden lied on a federal background form on the topic of drug addiction in order to buy a handgun in 2018.
Unlike every other of the six previous days of the trial that had a handful of Biden family members and friends only Hunter Biden’s second wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, was seen in attendance Tuesday morning while the jury deliberated. First lady Jill Biden, Hunter BIden’s stepmother arrived at the courthouse after the verdict was delivered.
Hunter Biden did not take the stand in the trial amid speculation that he might throughout the hearings.
The defense rested their case Monday morning on the sixth day of the trial at J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building in Wilmington, Del., just south of Philadelphia amid a sea of Biden family and friends in attendance to show support.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell argued on Monday that at the time Biden filled out the federal form he did not think that he was an addict, and that the federal government failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hunter Biden willfully broke the law.
A 2023 study portrays the reality how millions of Americans are addicted to alcohol or various types of drugs, and that millions more struggle with a family member or friend in the grip of addiction, which can spill over to everyday life.
Federal prosecutors rested their case Friday morning after a rather emotional testimony by Hunter Biden’s daughter, Naomi Biden, who was on the stand to answer questions about her father’s past drug addiction.
“Choices have consequences, and that’s why we’re here,” prosecutor Derek Hines said Monday during closing arguments. “We wouldn’t be here in this courtroom” if Hunter Biden only smoked crack.
More information
For more on drug and alcohol addiction, head to the American Psychiatric Association.