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Hunter Biden’s defense team is likely “banking on” the jury deadlocking on a verdict in the first son’s historic criminal gun trial, a legal expert told Fox News Digital.
“That’s what Hunter Biden and his defense team are banking on in this case,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith told Fox News Digital when asked if the trial could result in a hung jury or even acquittal.
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“Legally speaking, it didn’t really seem like Hunter Biden has a defense to these charges,” Smith continued. “Particularly, some of the jurors might have had family or friends struggling with substance abuse issues and have some sympathy for Hunter Biden and his substance abuse issues.”
Hunter Biden’s trial began last Monday in a federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, where he faces three felony firearm offenses regarding the 2018 purchase of a .38 revolver from a gun shop in the state. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL ENTERS DAY 5 AFTER TESTIMONY FROM SISTER-IN-LAW-TURNED-GIRLFRIEND: ‘PANICKED’
Hunter Biden departs from federal court, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Wilmington, Delaware.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Prosecutors are working to prove that Hunter Biden lied on a federal firearm form, known as ATF Form 4473, in October 2018 when he ticked a box labeled “No” when asked if he is an unlawful user of a firearm or addicted to controlled substances.
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It is the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president’s child is on trial.
Hunter Biden has a well-documented history of drug addiction, most notably detailed in his memoir “Beautiful Things,” which walks readers through his need for crack cocaine every 20 minutes at the height of his addiction, how he linked up with a female drug dealer he nicknamed “Bicycles” who sold him crack cocaine on the streets of Washington, D.C., and how he could serve as a “crack daddy” to dealers due to his spiraling addiction.
HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL ENTERS DAY 4 AFTER WILD TESTIMONY FROM EXES ON RAMPANT DRUG USE, TRASHED HOTEL ROOMS
The defense team does not deny Hunter Biden’s history with alcohol and drug addiction. Instead, they are working to build an argument that on the day Hunter Biden purchased the hand gun, Oct. 12, 2018, that he was not using crack cocaine and did not consider himself an active addict, citing his recent stint in a rehab.
An evidence photo presented by the prosecution shows the gun that Hunter Biden purchased.(U.S. Government Exhibit)
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Prosecutors are working to prove that Hunter Biden was addicted to crack cocaine, before, after and during the purchase of the handgun.
Smith continued in his comments to Fox News Digital that it is likely the jurors could deadlock and not reach a unanimous verdict.
HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL ENTERS 3RD DAY WITH CROSS-EXAMINATION OF FBI AGENT
“It’s certainly a possibility that you could have a hung jury. It’s a very real possibility. You only need one juror as a holdout,” Smith explained.
“But even those who may have some sympathy for Hunter Biden and his struggle with substance abuse, I thought Hallie Biden’s testimony was problematic for him.”
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Hunter Biden arrives at federal court with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in Wilmington.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Hallie Biden is the widow of Beau Biden, Hunter Biden’s brother who died in 2015 from brain cancer. Hallie Biden dated Hunter Biden following her husband’s death, and was called as a witness in the case by the prosection team.
Hallie Biden walked the jury through the rise and fall of their relationship, which focused on how Biden introduced her to crack cocaine before she ultimately became sober. Hunter Biden and Hallie Biden have since ended the relationship, with Hallie Biden joining court with her husband, John Hopkins Anning, whom she married just last weekend.
‘LIKE A SON’: FORMER TOP BIDEN ADVISER WITH DEEP BUSINESS TIES TO CHINA SPOTTED INSIDE HUNTER BIDEN GUN TRIAL
A court sketch depicts Hallie Biden testifying on the stand during Hunter Biden’s trial in Wilmington, Delaware, on Thursday, June 6, 2024.(William J. Hennessy Jr.)
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“I found [crack] and googled it because I didn’t know what it was,” Hallie Biden told the court of the first time she saw the drug in her home. “[Hunter Biden] told me what it was, crack cocaine.”
Hallie Biden, who testified under immunity, said she smoked crack cocaine and even accompanied Hunter Biden on drug deals. Hallie Biden is also a key figure in the trial, as she found Hunter’s Colt gun in the console of his pickup truck 11 days after he purchased the firearm. She testified she tossed the gun in a public trashcan outside of an upscale grocery market in Wilmington because she feared Hunter Biden would hurt himself or others.
HUNTER BIDEN’S WIFE LASHES OUT AT FORMER TRUMP AIDE DURING COURT APPEARANCE: ‘PIECE OF S—‘
Hunter Biden is facing three charges, false statement in purchase of a firearm; false statement related to information required to be kept by federal firearms licensed dealer; and possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
The total maximum prison time for the charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release.
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An evidence photo presented by the prosecution shows an image of Hunter Biden on April 11, 2018.(U.S. Government Exhibit)
Smith noted that even though a possibility of a hung jury is in the cards, prosecutors have presented a strong case against the first son.
“Based on the charges that have been brought and the evidence produced at trial, it certainly seems prosecutors have done their homework and done enough to convince the jury to convict Hunter Biden,” he said.
HUNTER BIDEN’S DRUG USE: WHAT THE PROSECUTION NEEDS TO PROVE AND WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW
In addition to playing excerpts of the audio book version of Hunter’s memoir – which was narrated by the first son – prosecutors have also presented evidence such as a brown pouch that contained the gun having trace amounts of cocaine on it, as well as questioning witnesses at the time of the gun purchase regarding Hunter’s drug use.
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Prosecutors called on Hunter’s former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, who met Hunter when she was 24 and he was 48 at a strip club in New York City. She testified that Hunter “would want to smoke the second he woke up,” discussed photos she took of his drug paraphernalia in trashed hotel rooms, and even how he attempted to get sober by purging his body of drugs with frog venom called “kambo.”
Zoe Kestan, former girlfriend of Hunter Biden, departs federal court after testifying in his trial on criminal gun charges in Wilmington, June 5, 2024.(Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
Though Kestan knew Hunter Biden before and after his purchase of the Colt revolver in October 2018, the pair did not speak that month, rekindling their relationship in November 2018 before it officially ended.
The jury also heard from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, who was married to Hunter Biden for more than 20 years, and recounted to the jury that she was “definitely worried, scared” after first discovering a crack pipe on the side porch of their home in Washington, D.C., in 2015.
Buhle said following the discovery of a crack pipe at their home in 2015, they participated in couple’s therapy before the marriage ended.
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HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL: 9 KEY FIGURES WHO MAY TESTIFY
The jury has also been presented with banking information showing thousands of dollars in cash withdrawals – a payment method often used for drug deals – and countless text messages of Hunter setting up drug deals, making references to drugs with language such as “party favor,” “baby powder” and “chore boy,” which is a type of scouring pad used as a filter for crack pipes.
The federal court before Hunter Biden arrives for his scheduled trial, Monday, June 3, 2024, in Wilmington.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
The texts concerning drug references were from the lead-up and after the gun purchase. Though, one day after the gun purchase, Hunter Biden texted Hallie Biden that he was “waiting for a dealer named Mookie.” A day after that text, he texted that he was “sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th Street and Rodney” in Wilmington.
The defense team argues that Hallie Biden doesn’t know with certainty that Hunter Biden was conducting a drug deal on Oct. 13 or if he was smoking crack on a car on Oct. 14, and that he could have just been avoiding Hallie Biden.
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US V HUNTER BIDEN: OPENING STATEMENTS TO BEGIN IN FIRST SON’S FEDERAL GUN TRIAL AFTER JURY SEATED
“One of the things Hunter Biden and his defense attorneys seem to be going for is that Hunter didn’t believe he was addicted,” Smith said, pointing to such texts as statements that “seem to undercut that argument.”
During jury selection last Monday, nearly all the more than 60 people called as potential jurors detailed to the court that they have family or friends who have struggled with addiction, which could lead to jurors feeling sympathetic for the president’s 54-year-old son. Delaware is also a small state where the Biden family’s roots run deep.
“The Bidens’ influence and their power in the state can’t be underestimated. But I think the sympathetic issue is the one that Hunter Biden’s legal team is focusing on,” Smith said.
Hunter Biden arrives with his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden at federal court, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Wilmington.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
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The trial follows the unprecedented NY v. Trump trial, which found former President Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Following the verdict, President Biden highlighted that “no one is above the law.”
HUNTER BIDEN’S CRIMINAL TRIAL ON FEDERAL GUN CHARGES BEGINS WITH JURY SELECTION
Hunter Biden is also facing a criminal tax trial in California, which will begin in September, after he was charged with three felonies and six misdemeanors regarding $1.4 million in owed taxes. The taxes have since been paid. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty in that case.
First lady Jill Biden arrives ahead of Hunter Biden’s trial at federal court, Monday, June 3, 2024, in Wilmington.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
“The only reason this case is going to trial in Delaware and the tax case is going to trial in California is because the federal judge in Delaware rejected the sweetheart plea deal… that’s the only reason this case is even going to trial at all. That’s the only reason we, as the American people, are finding out a lot of this information,” Smith continued.
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“Most Americans would be right to question the different treatment in both of those cases.”
Hunter Biden could testify in his criminal trial on Monday, according to his defense team. Defense attorney Abbe Lowell was heard saying following Friday’s lunch break that he will take the weekend to decide if he will call Biden to testify, and that he will notify Special Counsel David Weiss’ office of the decision.
Details surrounding the decision will be made public some time after 8:15 a.m. on Monday, when presiding Judge Maryellen Noreika requested both legal parties report back to the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
In 2019, New York’s legislature passed a law that allowed judges to consider a defendant’s documented history of surviving domestic abuse when determining what sentence to impose. If the judges found that the history played a role in the crime, they were able to reduce the sentences.
Since the law was enacted, prosecutors across the state, though, have at times requested that defendants waive that right in order to receive a plea deal and to avoid a trial.
But in an opinion on Thursday, New York’s highest court said prosecutors could not make defendants give up that right. In the 4-to-3 decision, written by Judge Jenny Rivera, the majority found that forcing a defendant to waive the right deprived them of the benefits of the 2019 law.
The practice “threatens to essentially eviscerate the statute by excluding the overwhelming majority of defendants who have suffered domestic violence,” Judge Rivera wrote.
Thursday’s decision also highlighted how an overwhelming majority of cases in the legal system end in plea agreements, rather than being decided at a trial. As of 2019, 96 percent of felonies and 99 percent of misdemeanors ended in a plea, according to state data.
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The decision is one of the rare times that the state’s highest court has acknowledged a defendant’s rights cannot be set aside as part of a plea agreement, said Paris C. DeYoung, an attorney with Legal Aid who argued before the judges on behalf of the petitioner in the case.
“It’s very hard in our system to get the court to protect certain rights from waiver,” she said. “We’re excited that this sort of opens the door for folks to continue to pursue things that they are entitled to without having to deal with just another waiver on their plates.”
The case at the heart of the appeal was that of Nicole Hudson, who was charged with second-degree attempted murder and two counts of first-degree assault for running over her sister’s girlfriend with a car while fleeing her abusive ex-boyfriend. She took a plea deal and waived her right to have the abuse she had dealt with considered in her sentencing.
In a statement on Thursday, Ms. Hudson said the decision “has given me my life back.” Waiving away her ability to have the hearing before she was sentenced was “an injustice not just for me, but also for my child and for my family,” she said.
Oren Yaniv, a spokesman for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, which prosecuted Ms. Hudson’s case, said the office was concerned the decision “will make it harder to resolve appropriate cases early.”
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“Crime victims and surviving relatives deserve finality, clarity and a process that does not unnecessarily prolong painful experiences,” he said.
The law the decision aims to protect, the Domestic Violence Survivor’s Justice Act, was passed in 2019, when progressive Democrats had taken control of New York’s Legislature.
It allowed some defendants to have their history of domestic violence to be considered during sentencing if they showed that they were largely influenced by their abuse at the time of the crime. The judge could sentence the defendants to receive less prison time than what the law called for or alternative incarceration programs. It also gave people already in prison the opportunity to apply for resentencing.
The law came as crime in New York hit historic lows, and the Legislature overhauled parts of the state’s bail law and compelled prosecutors to hand over reams of case material to defense lawyers in a timely manner. However, as crime inched up after the pandemic, and after a public shift in sentiment on crime, lawmakers began to make changes to the policies. Both laws have been amended.
Ms. Hudson’s case began in 2019. She was at an outdoor party by her home when her abusive ex-boyfriend arrived. After an altercation broke out, during which her former boyfriend was injured, Ms. Hudson fled to her car and tried to escape. As she began driving away, she ran over her sister’s girlfriend, striking her three times and dragging her body down the street under the car. The woman was left permanently paralyzed and Ms. Hudson was charged with second-degree attempted murder and two counts of first-degree assault.
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While her case was pending, Ms. Hudson, 34, asked that her history be reviewed by the court to see if she would be eligible to be sentenced under the domestic violence law. Her lawyers requested that the court sentence her to six months of incarceration and five years of probation.
Ms. Hudson’s lawyers included supporting information in her application, including a psychological report that said Ms. Hudson had experienced “repeated psychological and physical abuse” at the hands of her former boyfriend, who is also the father of her child. The first instance of physical abuse occurred when she was 20 years old and five months pregnant, the report found. His physical and verbal abuse escalated after.
While her application was pending before the court, Ms. Hudson was offered a plea deal through the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, offering her five years in prison and five years of probation. Their agreement, according to the opinion, was on the condition that she waive her right to the hearing to determine if she could get a reduced sentence.
Her lawyers objected to the provision, and the judge overseeing the trial also “expressed concern as to whether a defendant may waive,” the opinion said. However, the judge ultimately concluded that Ms. Hudson could waive her right and the court accepted her plea in 2021.
After she was sentenced, Ms. Hudson appealed, but the state’s Appellate Division found that the right could be waived. But the four judges on the state’s highest court on Thursday said that they agreed with a decision in another case that found some rights were “too valuable, both to the [defendant] and to the community, to be sacrificed in plea bargaining.”
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Ms. Hudson said she was now “excited to finally have the chance to tell my story. I know that I caused great harm, and I take full accountability for that.”
“I also know that my actions came from my years of abuse,” she said.
But, in a dissent on Thursday, Judge Anthony Cannataro argued that a remedy should come from legislators and not from the judiciary.
Ms. Hudson’s case is an example of the sentencing law working, Judge Cannataro said, because she was offered the very lowest end of the ordinary sentencing range, “despite the serious and lifelong injuries that defendant inflicted.” Now, as a result of the decision, and the likelihood that prosecutors will withdraw the agreement, Ms. Hudson “may find herself subject to a far longer sentence than she agreed to,” he said.
There may still be survivors who will choose to plead guilty instead of going through the process to see if their case could be determined using the sentencing law, said Kate Mogulescu, a professor at Brooklyn Law School and part of the Surviors Justice Project.
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“But what is not allowed now is for prosecutors to foreclose that,” she said. “That is an important distinction.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joined progressive allies and squad members U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to call for more federal funding for childcare amid cutbacks by the Trump administration.
Ocasio-Cortez, a New York congresswoman who traveled to Massachusetts this week, appeared Friday alongside Pressley and Wu at Horizons for Homeless Children in Roxbury for a story time classroom visit, roundtable discussion, and media availability, where they questioned the Trump administration’s priorities.
“We know that families are experiencing greater financial hardship and economic anxiety and vulnerabilities each and every day because of the hostilities of this administration that are not focused on the things that matter most, and that is affordability,” Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, said at the daycare center. “Increasingly, everything is through the roof and that includes the cost of childcare.
“We have an occupant in the Oval Office that says we have to fund a war that we don’t even know why we’re there, but we cannot afford to pay for childcare when that is our most important infrastructure,” Pressley added. “All the data bears out that investment is the greatest return on investment.”
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in January froze access to certain federal childcare and family assistance funds for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York “following serious concerns about widespread fraud and misuse of taxpayer dollars in state-administered programs,” the federal agency said in a press release at the time.
Locally, the Massachusetts Head Start Association’s executive director, Michelle Haimowitz, issued a statement earlier this month in response to Trump’s federal budget proposal for fiscal year 2027 that she said was “making it more difficult for our Head Start programs in Massachusetts by flat-funding Head Start nationally.”
“The federal government’s failure to provide our programs with much-needed funding has led to workforce shortages and difficulties in providing education and services to our students,” Haimowitz said at the time.
Ocasio-Cortez said Friday, “Over the last year, between the president’s efforts on DOGE, cutting services across health care, childcare, education, we see the Department of Education itself under threat by this administration.
“I don’t think that the president’s administration right now is friendly to Head Start, which is why it is incumbent upon us, and why we are stepping up in this moment to make sure that we are defending the state of Massachusetts, and frankly, the United States of America, the state of New York in those investments because investing in our children now is also an investment in those families.
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“There are some things that should just not be on the table and Head Start is one of them,’ Ocasio-Cortez added.
Wu, who gave birth to her third child in January, spoke of her administration’s efforts to expand pre-school education in Boston and how that availability can help relieve the challenges of being a parent.
“We know the uptake in terms of when our families have access to universal pre-K through our Boston pre-K program, the uptake then into kindergarten and into the Boston Public Schools is higher than ever before,” Wu said. “We see this not as a separate issue from public education or from housing or from workforce development. It’s really one and the same.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez play with puppets after reading a book to the children at Horizons for Homeless Children in Roxbury. (staff photo by Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
Crowds lined both sides of the Allegheny River on the second day of the NFL Draft Experience, as fans poured into Point State Park shortly after gates opened, filling the riverfront with a steady buzz and early arrivals.
While Point State Park grew crowded within the first hour Friday, the Draft Theater area near Acrisure Stadium built more slowly, with groups trickling in and the space still less than a quarter full well into the afternoon.
Attendees kept the energy high as festivities continued across Pittsburgh.
Stephanie Enz, 35, of Huntersville, said her family left the fan area Thursday night after exploring to watch the draft on television. She said Friday’s weather was too nice to skip the second day.
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“I’m surprised how many Pittsburgh Steelers fans there are compared to everyone else from other teams,” Enz said. “I feel like watching the last few years, it was more of a mix of other fans.”
Fans cheer in Point State Park’s NFL Draft Experience area in the hope of receiving a free T-shirt on Friday, April 24. (Megan Trotter | TribLive)
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Crowds gathered in and around Downtown, with activities in full swing by 10 a.m. Rivers of Steel Heritage Corp. held live blacksmithing demonstrations in Market Square, classic cars were on display, and the city’s tourism company, Visit Pittsburgh, set up a wall for fans to write on.
Mike and Sue Hacke of Upper Merion Township in Montgomery County arrived in Pittsburgh Friday morning.
The couple grabbed sandwiches at the Original Oyster House in Market Square and soaked in the updated area while waiting for gates to open for the Draft Experience at noon.
Mike Hacke, 67, grew up in Homestead but said it had been about 40 years since he was last in Pittsburgh. He said he was impressed by the improvements made to the city in preparation for the draft.
“I was in Philly a couple years ago when it was there, and I think that this is much better than what Philly did,” Mike Hacke said.
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Just before opening, football fans moved in droves from Market Square to line up at Point State Park, located just outside the Wyndham Grand Hotel.
The area inside the park was expanded from Thursday’s setup. The red carpet that had stretched across the entire space in front of the steps to the Point was split into two sections Friday, opening access to the Point State Park Fountain.
As groups moved through the park, many gravitated toward the newly opened space, eventually sitting to take in the view and posing for photos with the fountain and stadium in the background.
Rick Wilson, 65, and his wife Maureen, 62, took selfies in their Philadelphia Eagles jerseys while standing on the steps leading down to the fountain.
The couple, from Finleyville Borough in Washington County, said Steelers fans were generally friendly.
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“I think everybody’s very nice and have been very polite,” Rick Wilson said, noting only a few lighthearted comments here and there.
“We kind of took their pick last night,” he added.
On Thursday night, the Philadelphia Eagles selected USC wide receiver Makai Lemon, who had been on the phone with representatives from the Steelers as Pittsburgh’s first-round pick approached.
Rick Wilson, 65, and his wife, Maureen, 62, take photos in their Philadelphia Eagles jersey at the Point State Park Fountain on Friday, April 24. (Megan Trotter | TribLive)
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Part of the red carpet at Point State Park was open to the public, allowing fans to walk it and take photos where draft prospects had strutted the night before.
On their second day at the draft experience, Jessica, 46, and Matthew Light of Hershey took a stroll down the carpet.
“I noticed it from yesterday, and I figured we’d get a photo opportunity and take a memory home with us,” said Matthew Light, 46.
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Across the river, about a dozen people had nestled into the concrete with their backs against the draft stage barricade.
Hunter Enders, 30, and Meghan Crosby, 27, arrived at the area around 2 p.m. to be in the first row once the draft begins at 7 p.m.
The two were in the third row the night before and said that, despite record-breaking crowds, the atmosphere remained friendly, with no shoving or safety concerns around them.
While the stage area was far less crowded than the footprint across the way, smaller groups still gathered outside the elevator platform where media and commentators were broadcasting.
Rapper Wiz Khalifa, a Pittsburgh native, joined a sports broadcast, waving to the small crowd gathered below on the asphalt.
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Wiz Khalifa was scheduled to perform at 5:15 p.m. Friday, ahead of the second round’s start.
Fans watch as Pat McAfee records his show Friday afternoon live from the NFL Draft Experience area on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. (Ember Duke | TribLive)
