Hunter Biden’s attorneys mentioned Friday they’d announce Monday whether or not he’ll testify in his personal protection as his gun trial enters its second week.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell mentioned Friday that Biden’s authorized crew was all the way down to “their final choice” within the case, that means whether or not to name the defendant. The protection has solely known as three witnesses up to now, together with Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden’s eldest daughter, who gave emotional testimony Friday about her father’s drug use.
Another attainable witness is President Biden’s brother, James “Jimmy” Biden, who was anticipated to testify Friday, however the courtroom adjourned sooner than anticipated. If Hunter Biden testifies, prosecutors have indicated they might name a further witness.
Hunter Biden is charged with three felonies stemming from his buy of a revolver in Oct. 2018. Two of the fees are associated to accusations that he made false statements on a federal gun kind about his drug use, certifying he was not a person of or hooked on any managed substance throughout a interval when prosecutors allege he was hooked on crack cocaine.
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The different cost is for allegedly proudly owning the gun unlawfully, possessing the weapon for 11 days earlier than Hallie Biden discovered and discarded it. Hunter Biden has pleaded not responsible to the fees.
The prosecution rested its case on Friday in opposition to President Biden’s sole surviving son after testimony from Hunter Biden’s ex-wife Kathleen Buhle, his ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan and Hallie Biden, the widow of his brother Beau Biden and with whom Hunter Biden was additionally romantically concerned after his brother’s demise in 2015. The man who allegedly offered Hunter Biden the gun, Gordon Cleveland, additionally testified.
Hallie Biden, thought-about to be the prosecution’s star witness, testified final week that she “panicked” when she discovered the weapon, and he or she “simply needed to get rid” of the gun and bullets.
“I did not need him to harm himself or the youngsters to search out it and harm themselves,” she mentioned, including that she thought-about hiding the gun however she was “afraid certainly one of my kids would discover it.”
Hallie Biden mentioned Hunter had launched her to crack cocaine after her husband’s demise. “It was a horrible expertise that I went via and I’m embarrassed and ashamed, and I remorse that interval of my life,” she testified.
At the guts of the prosecution’s case is whether or not Hunter Biden knowingly lied about utilizing medication. Prosecutor Derek Hines in his opening assertion famous that “dependancy is probably not a selection, however mendacity and shopping for a gun is a selection.”
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Cleveland testified that Hunter Biden didn’t appear confused by the shape when he offered him the firearm in Oct. 2018.
Hallie Biden testified that Hunter Biden was utilizing medication in Oct. 2018, when he purchased the gun, and prosecutors confirmed texts that mentioned he was “sleeping on automobile smoking crack.” But Naomi Biden testified that her father “appeared nice” on the finish of Oct. 2018 and he or she didn’t spot any drug paraphernalia when she borrowed his truck.
While Hunter Biden’s historical past of drug dependancy is well-known — he wrote about it in his memoir, “Beautiful Things” — Hunter Biden’s lawyer Lowell has sought to boost questions on whether or not he knowingly omitted the data from the disclosure kind. In his opening assertion, Lowell mentioned that many addicts are in “denial” about their drug use, and he additionally argued that Hunter Biden didn’t think about himself to be an addict when he bought the gun.
Naomi Biden testified that she knew her father “was scuffling with dependancy,” saying “after my Uncle (Beau Biden) died, issues obtained unhealthy.” But she mentioned he by no means used unlawful medication in entrance of her, and he or she acknowledged she had by no means noticed what her father seemed like when he was utilizing medication.
While President Biden has not been on the trial, different members of the Biden household have been in attendance. First woman Jill Biden has been nearly day by day, besides when she was in France with President Biden to mark the eightieth anniversary of D-Day. Ashley Biden, the Bidens’ daughter and Hunter Biden’s half-sister, has additionally been in courtroom, though she turned emotional and left at some point.
