Hunter Biden gun trial: 'Politics never came into play,' juror says after guilty verdict
The president's son was convicted of unlawfully purchasing a firearm.
President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden has been found guilty on three felony counts related to his purchase of a firearm in 2018 while allegedly addicted to drugs.
The younger Biden, who pleaded not guilty last October after being indicted by special counsel David Weiss, denied the charges. The son of a sitting president had never before faced a criminal trial.
The trial came on the heels of former President Donald Trump's conviction on felony charges related to a hush money payment made to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
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Ex says Hunter Biden smoked crack weeks before gun purchase
Hunter Biden's former girlfriend Zoe Kestan testified that she saw him smoking crack as late as Sept. 20, 2018 -- a timeline that could undercut the defense's argument that he was abusing alcohol and not drugs when he purchased a gun on Oct. 12.
The defense has argued that Hunter Biden was not abusing drugs at the time of the gun purchase, after he had undergone a 12-day rehab stint in California that spanned from late August to early September. They argued repeatedly that when Hunter said in his audiobook that he "relapsed" following that rehab stay, it was only an alcohol relapse.
Kestan, however, testified that in mid-September he used crack "in the bedroom, in the bathroom."
Jurors have been laser-focused on Kestan as she testifies, some sitting up straight in their seats -- in contrast to the earlier testimony from the FBI agent who entered hundreds of text messages and audio book portions into the record, during which some jurors appeared to struggle to remain attentive.
Jury hears ex-girlfriend's recollections of trips, drug dealers
Jurors listened attentively to the testimony of Hunter Biden's ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan, turning their chairs to face her as she recounted their monthslong relationship in 2017-2018 during his addiction.
Under questioning, she spoke of multiple-night hotel stays, trips to Atlantic City, and memories of night clubs, dinners, and drug dealers.
Evidence displayed by prosecutors during her testimony included highly personal photos she had taken during their relationship, including a photo of her and Hunter Biden in a bathtub together in California, with a crack pipe in his hand.
As Kestan testified, Hunter's current wife Melissa sat in the front row of the gallery, barely moving or reacting.
Sitting at the defense table, Hunter Biden at times rubbed his face or covered his mouth as Kestan recounted their time together and photos flashed across the screen in the courtroom.
"I felt a connection with him," Kestan told the jury.
Ex-girlfriend says he was 'same charming person' on crack
Prosecutors called Hunter Biden's ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan to the stand, where she testified that she first met him at a Manhattan strip club in late 2017 and dated him for several months afterward.
Kestan bore witness to Hunter Biden's use of crack "every 20 minutes or so."
Kestan, who testified under subpoena and with an immunity agreement with prosecutors, recalled that Hunter Biden's demeanor didn't change after he used crack.
She described him as "cognizant and coherent."
"I remember thinking to myself that there was no change in his behavior," she said. "Nothing had changed, he was the same charming person."
Prosecutors showed jurors photos from Kestan's phone that showed crack pipes strewn about hotel rooms where they stayed.
Ex-wife says she never personally saw Hunter Biden use drugs
On cross-examination by defense attorney Abbe Lowell, Hunter Biden's ex-wife Kathleen Buhle testified that she never personally saw Hunter Biden using drugs.
"Did you ever see Hunter using drugs?" Lowell asked.
"No," Buhle replied.
Buhle's answer prompted prosecutors to ask Buhle what she saw "if [she] didn't' see him using drugs?"
"He told me when I found the pipe what it was ... and because he was acting not himself," Buhle said.
Lowell also asked Buhle about Hunter Biden's alcohol use, to which Buhle testified that he abused alcohol for many years.
"He went to rehab the first time in 2003," Buhle said.
Defense calls government's case 'conjecture and suspicion'
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell, in his closing argument, urged jurors to dispense with the government's "conjecture and suspicion" and find his client not guilty on all three counts.
"We have had Hunter's life in our hands" until now, Lowell said, referring to his legal team. "And now we have to give it to you."
Lowell repeatedly referred to prosecutors' case as a "magicians' trick" -- to "watch this hand and pay no attention to that one," as he said -- arguing that prosecutors failed to "fill in the gaps" about Hunter Biden's drug use around the time of his firearm purchase "because they don't have the proof."
Lowell also referred to prosecutors' strategy of showing Hunter Biden's pattern of drug use as an "accordion," meant to "compress" the timeline and make it seem to jurors that he was actively using drugs in October 2018, when he said on a government form that he was not addicted to drugs in order to purchase a Colt handgun.
The defense attorney also attacked some of the tactics prosecutors used, calling their treatment of Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi Biden "extraordinarily cruel" and saying that many of their questions and evidence were introduced with the intention of "embarrassing Hunter."
He also asked jurors to recall gaps in the recollections of Hunter Biden's then-girlfriend Hallie Biden, and suggested they should remember the immunity agreement she struck with prosecutors for her testimony.
"These are serious charges that will change Hunter's life," he said of the three felony charges the president's son faces, adding that "it's time to end this case."
Following Lowell's closing, the government was scheduled to have a short rebuttal, at which point the judge was to finish her jury instructions before the jury gets the case.