Hunter Biden’s trial on federal gun charges began with jury selection on Monday.
The first day of the trial, which is expected to last between three and six days, saw First Lady Jill Biden and half-sister Ashley Biden join the son of the president at the courthouse.
The 54-year-old is facing charges that he lied on a form to purchase a firearm, stating that he was not a drug user when he allegedly was frequently using crack cocaine.
Here’s what you need to know.
The prosecution’s case
Prosecutors will rely on Hunter Biden’s memoir to make the case that he was a drug user when he bought a handgun at StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply store in Wilmington on 12 October 2018.
While Biden didn’t mention buying a firearm in his memoir, Beautiful Things, he did outline his drug use. Prosecutors have called the book “incriminating.”
The prosecution has suggested that they possibly plan on attempting to prove that Biden used illegal drugs by pointing to text messageshe sent at the time.
A number of those text messages came from an iCloud account, that prosecutors got access to via a subpoena, and others were sourced from a laptop that Biden is reported to have left at a repair shop and never returned to collect.
Biden and some in his orbit have stated for years that material from the laptop cannot be presumed to be authentic. Operatives backing former president Donald Trump have publicized material from the laptop as part of their attacks on President Biden.
Allies of Hunter Biden have said that some of the material shared from the laptop has been altered or distorted and they have also never confirmed that Hunter Biden ever dropped anything off at a repair shop.
But prosecutors have said that they have confirmed the authenticity of large parts of the laptop’s content by checking texts and emails with the people Hunter Biden sent them to.
On 22 May, a filing by the prosecution stated that Hunter Biden “has not provided any evidence or information that shows that his laptop contains false information, and the government’s evidence shows the opposite – the defendant’s laptop is real (it will be introduced as a trial exhibit), and it contains significant evidence of the defendant’s guilt.”
The witnesses
The prosecution has said they may call as many as a dozen witnesses, according to The Washington Post.
They have indicated that they may call three of Biden’s former partners – Kathleen Buhle, who he married in 1993 and divorced in 2017; Hallie Biden, the widow of his brother Beau Biden; and a woman named as Zoe Kasten, according to Politico.
In the book, Biden referred to his romantic relationship with his brother’s widow Hallie as “an affair built on need, hope, frailty, and doom.”
The three former partners are all expected to say in testimony that Biden was using crack cocaine around the time that he purchased the gun.
Hallie Biden may also speak about the actual gun. She allegedly found it and threw it away behind a grocery store amid concerns that Hunter Biden may turn it upon himself.
Other possible witnesses include the shop owner who sold Biden the firearm in 2018 and several experts. Biden’s defense attorney, Abbel Lowell, didn’t rule out Biden himself appearing on the stand but it’s not customary for defendants to testify at their own trials.
The defense
Following his indictment, Biden filed a number of motions to dismiss the charges, including arguing that the prosecution was selective and vindictive as well as claiming that the gun law that he’s alleged to have violated goes against the Second Amendment.
The trial judge Maryellen Noreika rejected those motions, saying that Biden could appeal after the end of the trial.
Biden’s defense has since filed motions regarding what evidence can be included. During the final hearing before the trial, Lowell indicated that the defense may question if Biden filled out the form to buy the firearm himself, where he’s alleged to have lied about being a drug user.
There are two versions of the form – the shop owner emailed one to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms after the purchase and one was obtained from the shop a number of years after the sale. The form was updated by an individual at the shop to add information regarding Biden’s Delaware vehicle registration.
Lowell suggested this shows that the process was not conducted as expected, making it possible that it wasn’t Biden who checked the box to say he was not a drug user. The defense may also argue that Biden was in denial regarding his drug use when he purchased the firearm.
The possible sentence
Judge Noreika will have a wide selection of possible sentences to choose from if Biden is convicted, ranging from probation to what the Department of Justice has said is the maximum sentence – a quarter of a century behind bars. But the latter remains unlikely.
New York criminal defense lawyer Peter Tilem told Politico that federal sentencing guidelines for defendants in situations similar to Biden’s recommend prison terms of at least 15 months.
The defense would also argue that in the years since the alleged crime took place, Biden has significantly improved his life. But Biden could remain out on bail during any appeals process.
