Hunter Biden was convicted of three felonies on Tuesday in his Delaware gun crimes trial. The Wilmington, Delaware, jury unanimously voted to convict Joe Biden's son of two counts of making false statements on a federal form to purchase a gun, and one count of possessing the firearm while using drugs.
This historic conviction is the first time a current President's child has been found guilty of a felony. The first son looked at the jury with no visible reaction as the foreperson read the verdict. Hunter's wife Melissa sat in the gallery behind him, alongside his close friend and attorney Kevin Morris. The landmark verdict was cheered by Republicans.
Found Guilty and No Way Out
First Lady Jill Biden, who attended every day of the trial except one, was surprised by how quickly the verdict was reached—entering the courtroom two minutes after it had been read. Moments after the verdict, Hunter left the court for the first time as a convicted felon, holding hands with his Jill and wife Melissa.
This time president's son smiled as he got into a waiting SUV ignoring the nearby pack of reporters.
Prosecutors from special counsel David Weiss' office argued that President Biden's son knowingly lied on a gun application form, stating he did not use controlled substances before purchasing a Colt Cobra .38-caliber revolver on Oct. 12, 2018.
In reality, Hunter was addicted to crack cocaine at the time, a fact he acknowledged in his 2021 memoir—which prosecutors used as evidence against him.
Facing up to 25 years in prison, Hunter is more likely to receive a lighter sentence due to his lack of prior convictions.
However, the verdict does not mark the end of Hunter's legal challenges.
He is scheduled to face a case in Los Angeles federal court starting September 5 for allegedly evading $1.4 million in federal income tax from 2016 to 2019.
The government presented witness testimony, Hunter's own communications, data from his laptop, and excerpts from his book "Beautiful Things" to demonstrate that he was using crack cocaine around the time he purchased the firearm.
Judge Maryellen Noreika had previously ruled that prosecutors were not required to prove that Hunter was under the influence the day he bought the weapon.
Jurors listened to numerous excerpts from the audiobook of Hunter's memoir, narrated by himself, detailing his battle with addiction and describing his ability to find crack cocaine "anytime, anywhere" as a "superpower."
How Hunter Was Found Guilty
The jury also reviewed several messages where Hunter appeared to be arranging drug transactions and discussing his drug use—such as texting his dealer in the spring of 2018 to ask for "baby powder, the real soft stuff."
Witnesses who testified included Hunter's ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, his former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, and his sister-in-law-turned-partner Hallie Biden, who was married to Hunter's late brother Beau until his death from brain cancer in 2015.
Buhle testified about discovering Hunter's crack cocaine use in the same year as Beau's death, when she found his pipe on the porch of their Washington, DC home. She described how he was "not himself" and became "angry [and] short-tempered" when he used.
Hallie testified that she found the gun inside Hunter's Ford Raptor pickup on October 23, 2018—11 days after he purchased it—and in a panic, threw the weapon away at a Wilmington grocery store.
Shortly afterward, Hallie said Hunter became furious when he learned she had disposed of the .38 caliber revolver and demanded she retrieve it.
However, when she returned to the store about 30 minutes later, the gun was no longer there. It was later found and turned in by an elderly man who had been searching the trash for recyclables.
Hunter's defense team, led by attorney Abbe Lowell, argued to jurors that their client did not intentionally lie on the gun application form. They contended that Hunter was in a "deep state of denial" about his drug dependency.
Lowell also described Gordon Cleveland, the salesman at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, as a "persuasive seller" who pushed Hunter into purchasing the weapon.
The defense also sought to undermine the prosecution's timeline of Hunter's addiction, suggesting that he was not struggling with drug addiction but rather alcoholism.
Hunter has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case, although, in June 2023, he was scheduled to enter a guilty plea. However, the deal with prosecutors fell apart in court after Hunter's team learned he would not receive blanket immunity from potential future charges.
