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.
Latest headlines:
Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi takes the stand
Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi took the stand as the defense's third witness.
Gun store employee pressed on how ID was recorded on form
Jason Turner, an employee at the gun shop that sold Hunter Biden the Colt revolver at the center of the case, corroborated on the stand clerk Gordon Cleveland's earlier testimony of the sequence of events that occurred in the store when Hunter Biden filled out the ATF form and purchased the gun.
Turner, who appeared defensive and confrontational during some of his testimony, testified that he never spoke to Hunter Biden.
When shown the ATF Form 4473 that Hunter Biden filled out, Turner said Hunter Biden provided his car registration as an alternate form of ID because the passport he provided did not have an address.
The defense said in court papers filed earlier that confusion over how Hunter Biden's form of ID was recorded on the ATF form raised questions about "who wrote what on the form, and when."
When defense attorney Abbe Lowell, questioning Turner, highlighted the box on the form that asks for the type of alternate ID, it was blank.
"When I wrote that out, I wrote 'car registration,'" Turner said. "It's not there," he testified.
Lowell also pressed Turner on what he was doing after Hunter Biden's background check came back until the firearm was purchased.
"I would have put on my ritual tone and sat in a marble room," Turner said sarcastically.
Ron Palmieri, the owner of the gun store, then took the stand.
Hunter Biden's daughter, uncle are in court
As Hunter Biden's defense case gets underway, two more members of the Biden family have entered the courthouse: Naomi Biden and James Biden.
Naomi Biden is the daughter of Hunter Biden and granddaughter of President Joe Biden.
James Biden is Hunter Biden's uncle and President Biden's brother, who Hunter's attorney told the jury during opening statements paid for some of Hunter Biden's rehab and lived with him briefly afterward.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell previously suggested both James Biden and and Naomi Biden could take the stand for the defense.
Defense makes longshot motion for acquittal
After jurors left the courtroom for a break, defense attorney Abbe Lowell moved for an acquittal for by orally submitting a Rule 29 motion, citing constitutional challenges and an insufficiency of evidence.
Judge Maryellen Noreika indicated her skepticism at the longshot bid with a chortle as Lowell described the legal underpinnings of his motion.
"You're laughing," Lowell said, before joking that her "smile" suggested she was "likely skeptical."
Both Lowell and the judge agreed that one of his claims in particular was an "interesting concept."
Lowell then told the court that the first two witnesses he plans to call for the defense are Ronald Palimere, the owner of the gun shop where Hunter Biden purchased the Colt revolver at the center of the case, and Jason Turner, an employee of the store.
Prosecutors introduce infamous laptop as evidence
Prosecutors have introduced Hunter Biden's infamous laptop as evidence while questioning FBI agent Erika Jensen, their first witness.
Prosecutors asked Jensen about email messages found on the laptop and in Hunter Biden's iCloud account that appear to be about his drug use in 2018.
The government had said in pretrial court filings that it was planning to introduce materials on the laptop as evidence in the case.
The laptop has become a symbol of the legal and political controversy surrounding the president's son in recent years. Attorneys for Hunter Biden had previously attempted to preclude the laptop as evidence in the trial, arguing that they have "numerous reasons to believe the data had been altered and compromised before investigators obtained the electronic material."
But special counsel David Weiss argued in court filings that attorneys for Hunter Biden had not "provided any evidence or information that shows that his laptop contains false information," and the judge agreed to admit it as evidence.
Data from the laptop was purportedly obtained and later disseminated in 2019 by a Wilmington, Delaware, computer repairman after the laptop had been dropped off at his shop for repair.
With that context in mind, prosecutors did not rely on the laptop on its own; investigators said they cross-referenced every email, WhatsApp message, iMessage, and text message with Apple Inc. to establish the credibility of the data.
"Ultimately, in examining that laptop, were investigators able to confirm that it was Hunter Biden's laptop?" prosecutor Derek Hines asked Jensen.
"Yes," Jensen said.
"How?" Hines asked.
"Among other things, there was a serial number that's on the back of this laptop that matches the Apple subpoena records that they obtained in 2019, so it matches the registration of this particular device to the iCloud account at a particular date," Jensen said.
"So from the data from the laptop and the hard drive, did you -- what did you do next, or what did the FBI do next when assessing the addiction evidence?" Hines asked.
"So from the data that was extracted from both the iCloud back ups and this -- the laptop, investigators were able to go through largely WhatsApp messages, iMessages, and text messages, and found evidence of addiction within the messages," Jensen said.
Prosecutors also showed jurors an invoice for $85 from the computer repair shop where Hunter Biden dropped off the laptop for repair, which had been sent to an email address belonging to Hunter Biden.
"You said Apple Inc. provided that ... from the iCloud?" Hines asked.
"Yes," Jensen said.