Jury deliberates in Hunter Biden’s gun trial

Jurors enter their second day of deliberations on Tuesday at Hunter Biden gun trial, who faces federal charges of possessing and possessing a firearm while addicted to drugs. They deliberated for about an hour on Monday after closing arguments before being released that day.

Two of the three criminal charges Hunter Biden faces are related to allegations that he made false statements on a federal gun form about his drug use, saying he was not a user of or addicted to any controlled substance during a period in which prosecutors allege that he was addicted to crack.

He was also accused of illegally possessing the gun for 11 days before Hallie Biden, with whom he was romantically involved, found him and discarded him. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The government sought to argue that Hunter Biden knowingly lied about his drug use when he purchased the gun. Prosecutor Derek Hines told the court: “Addiction may not be a choice, but lying and buying a gun is a choice.”

In closing arguments Monday, prosecutors said the central question was whether Hunter Biden was an illegal user of or addicted to a controlled substance when he purchased the firearm. They analyzed witness statements, text messages, photographs, bank withdrawals and your memoir. And they acknowledged that the evidence was very “personal” and “ugly”, but “absolutely necessary” to prove his addiction.

Hunter Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, argued that Hunter Biden did not consider himself an addict when he purchased the gun. He was in rehab and was trying to get sober, Lowell said, and for a drug addict, there is a difference on the form between the question “are you a drug user” and “have you ever been a drug user?”

Lowell also argued that there were gaps in the evidence of Hunter Biden’s drug use during the 11-day period he owned the firearm, saying key witnesses such as his ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan, there was no evidence of drug use. He said prosecutors have not proven that the large cash withdrawals were used for drug transactions.

Lowell also cited testimony from Gordon Cleveland, the gun store employee who sold Hunter Biden the gun and testified that he did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol when he purchased the gun.

Although prosecutor Leo Wise did not directly reference the first family members present, he reminded the jury that “the people sitting in the gallery are not evidence” and “their presence in the courtroom has no bearing on the case.” President Biden was not in court, but First Lady Jill Biden attended almost every day. The Bidens’ daughter Ashley Biden, Biden’s brothers Valerie and Jimmy Biden and Hunter Biden’s wife Melissa Cohen Biden sat in the front row with the first lady on Monday.

The prosecution called several witnesses, including several women in Hunter Biden’s life: ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan and Hallie Biden, the widow of his brother Beau Biden. Hallie Biden, a key witness, told the court that she “panicked” when she found the gun and “just wanted to get rid of” the gun and the bullets.

“I didn’t want him to get hurt or for the kids to find out and get hurt,” she said. She testified that Hunter Biden was using drugs in October 2018, when he purchased the gun, and prosecutors showed texts that said he was “sleeping in the car, smoking crack.”

Naomi Biden, called by the defense, testified that her father “seemed fine” in late October 2018 and she did not see any drug paraphernalia when she borrowed his truck. But she also said she knew her father “was struggling with addiction,” telling the court that “after my uncle (Beau Biden) died, things got worse.” She said Hunter Biden never used illegal drugs in front of her. And she acknowledged that she had never noticed what her father looked like when he was using drugs.