National News
WILMINGTON, Delaware (AP) — The judge presiding over Hunter Biden's trial in federal court on gun charges agreed Friday to bar prosecutors from telling jurors further unflattering episodes from his personal life, but left open the opportunity of allowing them to talk if the president's son testifies.
It is unclear whether the president's son will testify on the trial. The trial could last as long as two weeks during his father's campaign and is prone to be fraught with heated disagreements over the evidence.
President Joe Biden's son is accused of lying about his drug use on a gun purchase form he kept in Delaware for about 11 days in October 2018. The trial is scheduled to start June 3 and will last as long as two weeks while his father's re-election campaign is underway.
Hunter Biden has admitted to being hooked on crack cocaine during that point, but his lawyers have said he didn’t break the law and the case was politically motivated. He didn’t speak to reporters as he accompanied his lawyers to the courthouse in Wilmington for a hearing and back home on Friday.
The prosecution won a crucial point when U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika ruled that prosecutors didn’t need to prove that he actually consumed drugs on the day of the acquisition.
She agreed that the defense pushed to maintain other details of his past secret, including a toddler support case in Arkansas and his discharge from the Navy after a positive drug test. But if he does take the stand, “a number of issues could become even more contentious,” Noreika said. Prosecutors have acknowledged that those incidents are unlikely to be relevant if he doesn't testify.
She also agreed to look at defense questions on the contents of a laptop he allegedly dropped off at a repair shop in Delaware.
Hunter Biden's lawyers plan to lift questions in court in regards to the authenticity of the information on the laptop. Prosecutors say there isn’t a evidence the information was compromised and a drawn-out battle could be a waste of time. The laptop has been the topic of controversy for years after Republicans accessed and distributed personal data from him.
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said she would consider objections to certain dates because the trial progresses.
Prosecutors also plan to indicate jurors portions of his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” during which he describes his struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse following the 2015 death of his older brother Beau, who died of brain cancer at age 46.
Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors were cherry-picking, and the judge allowed Biden's attorneys the chance to present a broader range of evidence.
His attorney, Abbe Lowell, also says there may be evidence that the gun purchase form was altered by employees after the sale. Prosecutors say there have been only minor additions that had nothing to do with the parts filled out by Hunter Biden.
Noreika didn’t immediately comment on whether the defense could be allowed to present a modified version of the shape on the trial, which is predicted to start with jury selection on June 3.
Hunter Biden also faces tax evasion charges in Los Angeles, and is scheduled to go to trial in that case in September. He is accused of failing to pay at the least $1.4 million in taxes over 4 years while living an “extravagant lifestyle” during a time when he admitted to scuffling with addiction. The back taxes have since been paid.
Hunter Biden's lawyers have tried unsuccessfully to have the proceedings in each cases dismissed, arguing, amongst other things, that prosecutors caved in to political pressure to charge him after a settlement failed in court and was publicly denounced as a “favor deal” by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump.
Trump, who desires to overthrow the Democratic president, is scuffling with legal problems of his own. He faces 4 charges, including a hush money trial currently underway in New York.
The lengthy investigation by US federal authorities into the president's son might have been concluded with a settlement last 12 months, however the agreement fell through after a judge expressed doubts about it. As a result, charges were brought against Hunter Biden.
Under the deal, he would have received two years' probation after pleading guilty to tax charges. He also could have avoided a weapons charge if he had stayed out of trouble.
image credit : www.boston.com