Jury Finds Hunter Biden Guilty of 3 Felonies (2024)

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Here are 5 takeaways from Hunter Biden’s conviction in a gun case.

Before deciding to convict him on all three charges, the jury heard about Mr. Biden’s spiraling addiction to crack cocaine from women in his life, as well as in Mr. Biden’s own words, which the prosecution shared by using excerpts from the audiobook of his memoir.

Here are some takeaways.

The verdict comes amid questions about the intersection of politics and the justice system.

The verdict in Mr. Biden’s trial came just weeks after former President Donald J. Trump was convicted in a Manhattan courtroom of falsifying business records to cover up a hush-money payment to a p*rn star. Both trials were surrounded by partisan dynamics and questions about the criminal justice system’s ability to operate without regard to politics.

Mr. Biden’s trial was held in the Biden family’s hometown, in the middle of a presidential campaign and amid intense pressure from Republicans to find criminality by Hunter Biden. The fact that juries have now convicted both the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and the son of his opponent, the sitting president, will not end debate about politics and the courts. But it might keep the issue from becoming further inflamed.

The trial has been a painful reminder of the struggles the Biden family has weathered over decades.

In his 2021 memoir, Hunter Biden laid bare his unrelenting abuse of crack cocaine. Witness testimony and text messages added to the damaging portrait of the president’s son, a stark reminder of his yearslong troubles at a time when his father is in a close re-election race.

Former romantic partners of Mr. Biden’s testified about his drug use, his coast-to-coast partying, his drug dealers in Washington, Delaware and California, and his daily cash withdrawals, typically more than $1,000 each time.

But testimony from his oldest daughter, Naomi Biden Neal, was perhaps the most emotionally wrought. Taking the witness stand on Friday in her father’s defense, she delivered a positive appraisal of his demeanor days after he bought the gun, describing him as “hopeful” and sober. But under cross-examination, that assessment seemed to falter, with prosecutors referring to text messages between her and Mr. Biden during that period that revealed an anguished relationship in which she struggled to connect with him while he was visiting New York, where she lived. Prosecutors suggested it was because he was using crack cocaine.

Each day of Mr. Biden’s trial, several of his family members sat behind the defense table, offering support by showing up alone or with hugs and kisses during breaks. The first lady, Jill Biden, was in the courtroom for most of the proceedings, cutting short a visit to France with the president to briefly return. After his guilty verdict, Hunter Biden left the courthouse on Tuesday holding her hand.

The verdict could affect any sentence from his coming trial on tax charges.

In September, Mr. Biden is scheduled to go on trial in Los Angeles for charges that he evaded a tax assessment, failed to file and pay taxes, and filed a false or fraudulent tax return. It is considered the more serious case against him.

The guilty verdict in his gun case on Tuesday raises the possibility that he would receive a stiffer sentence if a jury convicts him in the tax case because federal guidelines take into account previous convictions.

The special counsel, Mr. Weiss, in remarks on Tuesday reiterated that he brought the gun case because nobody “is above the law,” while also suggesting that the government would not seek a sentence more severe than for any other person convicted in such a case.

Like the gun charges, the indictment for the tax-related offenses chronicles Mr. Biden’s years of drug abuse and cites a wild spending spree. “Between 2016 and Oct. 15, 2020, the defendant spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing, and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” prosecutors wrote in bringing charges.

The gun trial put some of that behavior on display, but the tax charges span a longer time period. That trial is set to start on Sept. 5, about a month before he is expected to be sentenced for the gun crimes.

The trial shows how the government’s strategy for keeping guns out of the wrong hands relies on a single form.

During his opening statement, one of the prosecutors, Derek Hines, cited the form as the way to keep guns out of the wrong hands. “That form in a background check is the only safeguard that exists to screen whether someone can lawfully own a firearm,” he said. “Background checks are one of the few protections that exist when it comes to having guns.”

Mr. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, made a similar point, noting that alcohol is not even mentioned on the form.

“The law in this case does not prevent, and the form does not ask if someone is an alcoholic,” Mr. Lowell said. “Under the law, and the form in this case, a person can even be drunk and still, under this law and this form, be able to walk in a gun store and buy it.”

The case against Mr. Biden is unusual, and not just because he is the son of a sitting president.

People accused of lying on a federal firearms application are typically not indicted on that charge alone, making Mr. Biden’s case unusual in that it would rarely reach a jury.

Typically, it would be part of a suite of charges that include a more serious crime. In many cases, people facing those charges negotiate deals for probation and participation in programs that include counseling and regular drug testing.

There are fewer than about 300 prosecutions a year for lying to a federally licensed firearms dealer. Some 25 million to 30 million background checks were performed annually around the time of Mr. Biden’s gun purchase, according to statistics obtained by The Washington Post.

Hunter Biden Found Guilty on Charges Related to Gun Purchase in 2018

The charges that Mr. Biden was convicted of stem from the purchase of a Colt pistol in October 2018, and also included illegal possession of a weapon after falsely claiming to be drug-free on the standard background check required in all firearms transactions.

Mr. Biden, 54, faces up to 25 years in prison, although federal sentencing guidelines call for a fraction of that penalty. First-time offenders who did not use their weapons to commit violent crimes receive relatively light sentences, and prosecutors suggested they would not seek a sentence more severe than for any other person convicted in such a case.

As the verdict was read aloud, Hunter Biden stood with his arms crossed, grimly surveying the jury. When it was all over, he hugged and kissed his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden.

“I am more grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week from Melissa, my family, my friends and my community than I am disappointed by the outcome,” he said in a statement shortly after.

Mr. Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, suggested that he might appeal, vowing to “vigorously pursue all the legal challenges available to Hunter.”

It is unclear what, if any, political implications the verdict will have. Former President Donald J. Trump, facing two federal indictments, pounced on the conviction. But other Republicans have expressed skepticism about the trial, and Representative Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican allied with Mr. Trump, said on social media that the conviction was “kinda dumb.”

But the verdict was nothing short of a personal catastrophe for Mr. Biden.

A year ago, Mr. Biden, who has been sober since mid-2019, reached a plea agreement with the government that would have allowed him to participate in a counseling program for people who commit nonviolent firearms offenses in lieu of prosecution or prison time. But the deal imploded under intense questioning from the judge presiding in the case. He faces another trial in September stemming from his failure to pay his income taxes during a yearslong crack, alcohol and spending binge.

The Delaware case, brought by the special counsel David C. Weiss, is widely regarded as the least serious of the two federal indictments against Mr. Biden brought last year. But Tuesday’s guilty verdict raises the stakes for any future sentencing if he is convicted in the second trial.

Mr. Weiss, flanked by Leo J. Wise and Derek Hines, the two prosecutors who oversaw the trial, reiterated that he brought the case because nobody “is above the law.”

He expressed sympathy with people with addiction, but in a brief appearance at his office in Wilmington he said the purchase of a gun made Mr. Biden’s conduct “dangerous” and worthy of prosecution.

“This case was about the illegal choices he made while in the throes of addiction,” said Mr. Weiss, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware.

Many Republicans have relished in the prosecution of Mr. Biden, equating President Biden’s son’s legal troubles with those of Mr. Trump. But the situations are entirely different: The former president has been indicted twice by federal grand juries, and on May 30 was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York State court for falsifying business records. He is also facing criminal charges in Georgia for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

President Biden has said he will not pardon his son and kept his distance from the trial. He shifted his schedule after the verdict to visit his son in Wilmington. He is scheduled to leave Wednesday for the Group of 7 summit in Italy.

“I am the president, but I am also a dad,” the president said in a statement. “I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal. Jill and I will always be there for Hunter and the rest of our family with our love and support. Nothing will ever change that.”

Jurors reached their verdict after just three hours and five minutes of deliberations. Their speed took nearly everyone by surprise — including the first lady, Jill Biden.

Dr. Biden, Hunter Biden’s stepmother, who attended most days of the trial, raced to the courthouse when she learned the jury had reached a decision but got snagged in a slow-moving security line at the door and missed the reading of the verdict. Later, she walked out of the courthouse hand-in-hand with Mr. Biden.

Hunter Biden’s uncle James Biden, one of his closest friends, was determined to get in — squeezing to the front of the security line, insisting he should get priority over the queue of reporters holding their wallets, keys and belts at the metal detector.

He made it.

Hunter Biden had been optimistic at the end of the day on Monday, when the jury began deliberating. His team believed that the composition of the panel, which included several people with a family history of drug problems, would be sympathetic.

But in the end, the government’s case was straightforward and the verdict preordained in the view of prosecutors, who presented dozens of text messages, in addition to summoning three women, including Beau Biden’s widow, Hallie Biden, who offered vivid testimony about his simultaneous, conflicting efforts to get clean and get more crack.

Mr. Lowell, Mr. Biden’s lawyer, countered with a 90-minute closing argument on Monday that attacked the credibility of the government’s main witnesses, seeking to show that Mr. Biden had not been using drugs at the exact moment he applied for a gun. He accused prosecutors of peddling “suspicion” and “conjecture,” and suggested that the trial had less to do with justice than punishing a remorseful and sober man for the crime of drug addiction.

Republicans in Congress have tried to link President Biden, who was out of office for most of the time covered in both of Hunter Biden’s federal cases, to his son’s lucrative business contracts.

But they have failed to find any substantial links after years of digging and dubious claims that the president oversaw all of his son’s dealings as head of the “Biden Crime Family.” Just last week, House Republicans made criminal referrals to the Justice Department, requesting that they charge Hunter and James Biden with making false statements to Congress in the impeachment inquiry against President Biden.

Hunter Biden was paid millions to serve on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company — “and spent this money on drugs, escorts and girlfriends, luxury hotels and rental properties, exotic cars, clothing and other items of a personal nature, in short, everything but his taxes,” prosecutors wrote in his indictment on tax charges in December.

On Tuesday, Mr. Biden was convicted of three felonies: lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the federal firearms application used to screen applicants and possessing an illegally obtained gun for 11 days, from Oct. 12 to Oct. 23, 2018.

Prosecutions for lying to a dealer are relatively rare, averaging fewer than 300 per year. Some 25 million to 30 million background checks were performed annually around the time of Mr. Biden’s gun purchase, according to statistics obtained by The Washington Post.

When officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reviewed Mr. Biden’s gun application several years ago, they believed the case most likely would have been dropped if the target had been a lesser-known person, according to a former law enforcement official familiar with the situation. They pointed to two factors: The gun had not been used in a crime, and Mr. Biden had taken steps to get and stay sober.

Maryellen Noreika, the judge in the case, said she would sentence Mr. Biden within four months. She will have to weigh a number of unusual factors specific to his case.

According to guidelines by the United States Sentencing Commission, which sets recommended sentencing parameters, someone in Mr. Biden’s position would typically face 15 to 21 months’ imprisonment for offenses related to the unlawful receipt, possession or transportation of firearms.

From 2019 to 2023, only 48 defendants were sentenced in a similar category as Mr. Biden, and 92 percent were sentenced to serve prison time with a median prison term of 15 months, according to the commission’s data.

Around 8 percent of people in that category received probation or a fine.

But judges frequently depart from the suggested guidelines when handing down a sentence and may reduce the time spent in prison in light of the particular circ*mstances unique to each case, according to legal experts.

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A juror told reporters that the jury was impartial despite feeling sympathy for Hunter Biden.

Speculation about how jurors might approach the case started almost immediately after jury selection last week: a striking number of people in the pool of available jurors expressed ambivalence about prosecuting people for relatively minor offenses, a reaction that may have been fueled, in part, by seeing family members struggle with addiction.

According to an interview with The Washington Post, the juror said that even after a weeklong trial that delved into Mr. Biden’s relapses and risky decisions while he was addicted to crack cocaine, the jury was initially evenly split on all counts — six jurors leaned toward acquittal during a vote on Monday.

But the jury reviewed the evidence again, the juror said, and delivered a conviction on all counts on Tuesday. The man said that the decision was based solely on a fair application of the law, and that while jurors did not discuss the possible consequences, he felt personally that Mr. Biden should not face prison time.

“It was very sad that he was being, not that he was being convicted of these crimes, but that his life had turned out the way it did,” he told reporters with CNN.

Will Hunter Biden go to jail? Here is what his sentence could look like.

According to the most recent manual published by the United States Sentencing Commission, which sets recommended sentencing guidelines, someone in Mr. Biden’s position would typically face 15 to 21 months’ imprisonment for offenses related to the unlawful receipt, possession, or transportation of firearms.

From 2019 to 2023, just 52 defendants were sentenced in a similar category as Mr. Biden, and 92 percent were sentenced to serve prison time with a median prison term of 15 months, according to the commission’s data. Around 8 percent of people in that category received probation or a fine.

But judges frequently depart from the suggested guidelines when handing down a sentence and may reduce the time spent in prison in light of the particular circ*mstances unique to each case.

Mr. Biden, as a nonviolent first-time offender and as someone who was not accused of using the weapon in another crime, did not commit any of the aggravating factors that a judge might normally consider in setting a harsher sentence. (Examples would include making a straw purchase to transfer a gun to somebody who could not buy one legally.)

At the same time, the people who face charges similar to Mr. Biden often plead guilty and rarely go to trial, a fact that could further muddy the judge’s determination.

By a judge’s calculation, a guilty plea from a defendant can count strongly toward an acceptance of responsibility for their crimes, substantially lowering, in some cases, the so-called base offense level that informs the sentencing.

According to the commission’s data, a defendant comparable to Mr. Biden who received credit for accepting responsibility would see a suggested range of just 10 to 16 months in prison, and in practice, 30 percent of people sentenced in that category from 2019 to 2023 were sentenced to probation with no prison time.

While people who plead not guilty and take their case to a jury, as Mr. Biden did, are rarely acknowledged for taking responsibility for their actions, Mr. Biden’s case hinged largely on technical details, including the wording on the form he filled out.

His lawyers acknowledged, and Mr. Biden admitted in his memoir, that he was frequently using crack cocaine around the time he bought the gun, and mainly disputed that he knowingly lied on the form he filled out to buy it. Mr. Biden’s lawyers also argued at trial that he never loaded or even handled the gun in the brief period that he owned it.

Now that a jury has convicted Mr. Biden, Judge Maryellen Noreika will consider whether a sentence in the recommended guidelines, which are devised to prevent disparities between defendants, matches her sense of Mr. Biden’s culpability.

Having secured a conviction, prosecutors could also argue in their sentencing memo that a lesser punishment, such as probation and mandatory enrollment in a firearms diversion program, is more appropriate, as they often do in less serious gun crimes.

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The judge who will sentence Hunter Biden kept the trial moving.

She acted swiftly on motions and moved the case along, rejecting repeated requests for postponements by Mr. Biden’s legal team. But Judge Noreika did not schedule a date for Mr. Biden’s sentencing after he was found guilty on all three felony counts on Tuesday, although she said that it typically takes place within 120 days of a verdict.

David C. Weiss, the special counsel, flanked by Leo Wise and Derek Hines, the two prosecutors who oversaw the trial, reiterated Tuesday that he brought the case because nobody “is above the law” — but also suggested the government would not seek a sentence more severe than for any other person convicted in such a case.

In a stunning hearing last July, Judge Noreika uncovered holes in a proposed plea deal between the Justice Department and Mr. Biden that offered him broad immunity — scuttling a plea deal that would have settled tax and gun charges against Mr. Biden.

In the succeeding weeks, Mr. Weiss indicted Mr. Biden for firearms offenses in Delaware and for failure to pay his taxes in California. The judge overseeing the pending tax case, Mark C. Scarsi, was also nominated by Mr. Trump. He started in the middle district of California in September 2020.

Judge Noreika’s judicial record, publications, campaign donations and interviews with those who know her show that she displayed early leadership and a strong work ethic as a law student before a long career as a patent litigator.

Born in Pittsburgh, she graduated from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, earned a master’s degree in biology from Columbia University, finished law school in 1993, then moved from associate to partner at the Wilmington firm of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell. Over two decades, she tried more than 30 cases there, mainly patent and intellectual property disputes, before joining the federal bench.

Although she was nominated by Mr. Trump, she was recommended to him by Delaware’s two Democratic senators. During her nomination hearing in February 2018, Judge Noreika said she admired judges who were “always prepared” and who made people “feel like they’ve been listened to and been given a fair shot.”

Federal campaign records show that she has contributed to candidates from both political parties, including Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, and Hillary Clinton during her 2008 campaign for president. Judge Noreika was registered as a Democrat from 2000 until 2020, when she changed her registration to no party affiliation.

Judge Noreika also presided over a Biden-related case in March 2023, when she threw out part of a defamation lawsuit brought by the owner of a Delaware computer repair shop where Mr. Biden left his laptop in 2019. Mr. Biden and his father’s presidential campaign were among the defendants in the suit, which Judge Noreika sent back to the state’s Superior Court.

A guilty verdict for his son is likely to weigh heavily on President Biden.

Hunter Biden on Tuesday was convicted of lying on a federal form while applying for a handgun, lying to a federally licensed gun dealer and of illegally possessing a firearm during an 11-day period in 2018. The verdict will weigh heavily — personally and politically — on President Biden as he continues a bruising re-election campaign.

The verdict is obviously unwelcome news for President Biden, who is scheduled to leave Washington for the Group of 7 summit in Italy on Wednesday, and for Ms. Biden, who was a constant presence during the trial. But the president has stood by his troubled son for years, and he is unlikely to change course and treat his son like a political liability as he campaigns for a second term.

His political rivals signaled on Tuesday that they were not satisfied with the trial’s outcome. Republicans were gearing up to say he was convicted of the wrong crimes.

“DOJ is running election interference for Joe Biden — that’s why DOJ did NOT charge Hunter with being an unregistered foreign agent (FARA) or any crime connected with foreign corruption,” Stephen Miller, one of former President Donald J. Trump’s top advisers, wrote on the website X, referring to the Department of Justice. “Why? Because all the evidence would lead back to JOE.”

Republicans have tried, so far unsuccessfully, to link Hunter Biden’s business dealings to his father, and this line of attack is unlikely to recede. Last week, House Republicans urged the Justice Department to charge Hunter and James Biden, the president’s son and brother, with making false statements to Congress in the impeachment inquiry against Mr. Biden.

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“This case was about the illegal choices he made while in the throes of addiction,” Weiss said.

On conservative social media, the guilty verdict gets a ‘yawn.’

Right-wing influencers have spent much of Mr. Biden’s trial claiming, without evidence, that the process was a sham in various ways: a trick by the Justice Department to appear balanced after former President Donald J. Trump was convicted in a Manhattan courthouse, or a show trial that would end in a not-guilty verdict by left-leaning jurors in Delaware. (Mr. Trump was charged by New York State, not the Justice Department.)

They also claimed, without any proof, that the trial was a distraction from other crimes committed by Mr. Biden. They included the conspiracy theory that he profited from business dealings in Ukraine with the help of his father.

Those claims continued after the guilty verdict was announced.

“They went after Hunter on his gun stuff to make you overlook all his Ukraine stuff,” wrote Jack Posobiec, a right-wing podcaster, to his more than 145,000 subscribers on Telegram.

Mark Levin, a conservative radio host and podcaster, wrote on Truth Social that Mr. Biden was found guilty “in a real trial (not a farce like Manhattan).”

But many of his supporters disagreed with his assessment.

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The quick verdict took many by surprise, with Biden family members unable to get through security in time.

Jurors reached their verdict after just three hours and five minutes of deliberations.

As the verdict was read aloud — guilty on all three felony counts — Hunter Biden stood with arms crossed, grimly surveying the jury.

After jurors left the courtroom, Mr. Biden hugged his lawyers. Then he found his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, put his hands on her arms, looked her in the eyes, and said, “Hey.” He kissed and hugged her.

Jill Biden, the first lady and Mr. Biden’s stepmother who attended most days of the trial, was not able to get to the courtroom in time for the verdict because of security delays. But she held Mr. Biden’s hand as he left the courthouse and got into a waiting vehicle without speaking to reporters.

His aunt was also unable to enter the courtroom when the verdict was announced. His uncle James Biden rushed to the front of the security line, insisting he should get priority as a family member. He was successful.

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Here are the felonies Hunter Biden was convicted of committing.

In purchasing the gun, Mr. Biden had to fill out a form for a federal background check. In response to a question on the form about whether he was using drugs, Mr. Biden said he was not — an assertion that prosecutors successfully persuaded the jury was false.

The first two crimes are essentially the same — that he lied about his drug use to illegally obtain the weapon, and that he falsely claimed that he was not “addicted to any stimulant, narcotic drug, and any other controlled substance” on the federal form, known as a 4473.

The third conviction, illegal possession of the gun while under the influence of drugs, stems from the time he had the weapon. Hallie Biden, his brother Beau’s widow — and his romantic partner at the time — eventually discovered the gun and threw it into a dumpster.

The section of federal law cited in the indictment, 18 U.S. Code § 922, is the main statute used to define who can and cannot possess a firearm. It bars drug users, people convicted of felonies whose punishment exceeds a one-year prison sentence, fugitives from justice, people judged to be “mentally defective,” and those receiving dishonorable discharges from the military.

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The president is delivering remarks on gun control in Washington this afternoon.

The government’s case against Hunter Biden used his own words against him.

Prosecutors say Mr. Biden misrepresented the extent of his drug use in completing a federal form to buy a firearm on Oct. 12, 2018. At the time, he replied “no” to the question: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”

Mr. Biden’s defense team argued that the terms “user” or “addict” are not defined on the form he filled out. They say the question itself is in the present tense.

“Someone, like Mr. Biden who had just completed an 11-day rehabilitation program and lived with a sober companion after that, could surely believe he was not a present tense user or addict,” Mr. Biden’s lawyers wrote in a court filing.

Yet, prosecutors say, Mr. Biden recognized he was an addict. They point to his memoir, in which he described in some length a four-year addiction to crack cocaine, a period that included his purchase of the gun. In detailing his multiple attempts at rehabilitation, Mr. Biden at one point concludes those efforts were “insincere.”

Recalling the tumultuous period of his life after he bought the gun, Mr. Biden wrote: “I hardly went anywhere now, except to buy. It was me and a crack pipe in a Super 8.”

In addition to excerpts from his book, prosecutors have singled out text messages and metadata retrieved from his phone days after he acquired the gun. On Oct. 13, Mr. Biden texted that he was meeting with his drug dealer, Mookie. The next day, he sent a message that read, “I was sleeping on a car smoking crack,” at an intersection in Wilmington.

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