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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First lady returns to trial
First lady Jill Biden, Hunter Biden's stepmother, is in attendance at the trial this morning.
She returned from France, where she was accompanying President Joe Biden on a trip to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
She had attended the trial each day until making the trip to France.
Hunter Biden arrives at courthouse
Hunter Biden has arrived at the courthouse for Day 5 of the trial.
He was accompanied as usual by his wife Melissa Cohen Biden.
Prosecution set to rest its case
The government is expected to rest its case against Hunter Biden this morning after calling its final witnesses.
After that, it will be the defense's turn. Attorneys for Hunter Biden indicated earlier this week that they intend to call Hunter Biden's daughter Naomi to the stand, and also suggested that James Biden, the uncle of Hunter Biden and the brother of President Joe Biden, would testify.
Whether Hunter Biden takes the stand in his own defense remains an open question.
If he does not, defense attorney Abbe Lowell said he would likely rest his case on Monday, meaning jurors could be deliberating as soon as Tuesday.
Jurors were 'nodding off,' judge warned defense attorney
In a late-day sidebar conference that occurred out of the earshot of jurors and reporters -- but whose contents were included in the court transcript released at the end of each day -- Judge Maryellen Noreika chastised Hunter Biden's attorney for his lengthy questioning of witnesses.
The exchange came after prosecutors took issue with the "consistently lengthy" cross-examinations being conducted by defense attorney Abbe Lowell.
"This is going on a little long," Judge Noreika told Lowell about his cross-examination of the Delaware state trooper who recovered Hunter Biden's gun from the man who found it in the trash.
"I got jurors over there nodding off," the judge said. "Do that at your peril -- but they are half sleeping."
In contrast to Lowell's long cross-examination, prosecutors spent just twenty minutes questioning the trooper on direct examination.
"The crosses have been consistently lengthy, two times our directs," prosecutor Derek Hines told the judge, arguing that some of Lowell's questions were "irrelevant."
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.