A jury has resumed deliberations in the case of Hunter Biden, the US president’s son accused of lying about his drug addiction to illegally buy a gun in 2018.
Jurors deliberated for an hour on Monday before adjourning.
Prosecutors made their closing pitch to the 12-member jury on Monday, reminding them no one was above the law that forbids false statements on a background check for a firearm purchase.
“When he chose to lie and buy a gun he violated the law. We ask you return the only verdict supported by the evidence – guilty,” government prosecutor Derek Hines said.
Hunter Biden, 54, the son of President Joe Biden, is the first child of a sitting president to face a criminal trial.
He has pleaded not guilty to felony charges that include lying about his addiction when he filled out a government screening document for a Colt Cobra revolver and illegally possessing the weapon for 11 days.
Defence lawyer Abbe Lowell in Monday’s closing arguments compared the government’s case to the work of a magician who focuses attention on drug use from months or years earlier to create the illusion of drug use when the gun was purchased.
“They blurred all those years before he walked into StarQuest Shooters and all those years after,” Lowell told jurors, referring to the store where his client bought the gun.
Hunter Biden told the judge overseeing the case at a 2023 hearing that he has been sober since 2019.
The sentencing guidelines for the charges against Biden are 15 to 21 months but legal experts say defendants in cases similar to his often get shorter sentences and are less likely to be incarcerated if they abide by the terms of their pre-trial release.
First lady Jill Biden, the president’s brother James and other family members watched from the first row of the courtroom as the defence rested its case on Monday without calling Hunter Biden to the witness stand.
The first lady has been in court almost every day since the trial began last week.
with AP
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