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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Hunter Biden, first lady Jill Biden arrive at courthouse

Hunter Biden has arrived at the courthouse for the start of his federal gun trial this morning.

His stepmother, first lady Jill Biden, is attending the proceedings.


Prospective jurors will be asked about president

Two hundred and fifty Delaware residents have been summoned to the courthouse in downtown Wilmington, where they will face typical questions about their fitness to serve as jurors.

But because this is the trial of the son of a sitting president, there will be some novel topics covered during the jury selection process known as "voir dire."

Among the questions jurors will be asked: "If you were eligible to vote in any election(s) in which Joseph R. Biden was a candidate, would that fact prevent you from maintaining an open, impartial mind until all of the evidence is presented, and the instructions of the Court are given?"

And "Do you believe Robert Hunter Biden is being prosecuted in this case because his father is the President of the United States and a candidate for President?"


Judge rules annotated form can't be used as evidence

On the eve of trial, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika threw a wrench in one of the key arguments attorneys for Hunter Biden were planning to advance, ruling that an annotated copy of the federal form Hunter Biden is accused of lying on would be excluded from evidence.

The original document, called an ATF Form 4473, was created in 2018 when Hunter Biden purchased the firearm. But in 2021, gun store employees made a copy that included some handwritten notes. Defense attorney Abbe Lowell contended that employees had "tampered with" the document, and that it raised questions about "who wrote what on the form, and when."

Lowell hoped his argument would undermine the credibility of some key government witnesses -- the people who sold Biden the gun -- and potentially create a reasonable doubt that Hunter Biden was the one who actually checked that box.

Attorneys for special counsel David Weiss' office have said the gun shop employees merely "annotated" the form and urged Noreika to prevent Lowell from introducing it into evidence.

Late Sunday, Noreika sided with Weiss.


Jury selection set to get underway

Jury selection is scheduled to get underway today in the federal gun trial of Hunter Biden, who authorities say broke the law when he purchased a Colt revolver in 2018.

President Joe Biden's son faces two counts of making false statements while purchasing the firearm and a third count of illegally obtaining it while addicted to drugs.

Although the charges together carry a possible sentence of up to 25 years, legal experts say that, as a first-time and nonviolent offender, Hunter Biden would not likely serve time if convicted.

The trial, in Delaware federal court, is expected to last two to three weeks.


Family 'fighting off tears' hearing audio from Hunter Biden's memoir

In the first exhibits presented in the government's case, prosecutors played excerpts from the audiobook of Hunter Biden's 2021 memoir "Beautiful Things" -- in which jurors heard in his own words about some of the most personal low points of his yearslong addiction to crack cocaine.

FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen, the government's first witness, introduced about a dozen audio excerpts played out over an hour, as Hunter Biden's voice boomed over the courtroom's loudspeakers while his stepmother, first lady Jill Biden, and several other members of his family sat in attendance.

"I used my superpower of finding crack cocaine anytime, anywhere," Hunter Biden said of the year 2018 -- the same year he purchased the gun that prosecutors say he lied to get. The audio contained passages in which he spoke about the darkest and most dangerous moments of his addiction -- at one point doing cocaine in the bathroom while on a graduation trip with his daughter. .

Jill Biden and her daughter Ashley Biden sat shoulder-to-shoulder as the clips played out, at times leaning their heads against one another. At one point, as Hunter Biden's voice was heard describing a raucous 12-day bender in Los Angeles, Jill Biden lifted her left arm and draped it around Ashley's shoulders.

A person sitting with the family told ABC News they were both "fighting off tears."

Hunter Biden, for the most part, stared intently into the nearby monitor displaying the book's contents, at one point slightly nodding along as he reheard some of his most painful struggles. The jurors appeared largely engaged, with many taking notes and looking up at the screen to follow along.