Hunter Plea Hijinks

It’s the Bidens, so it’s sleazy right to the end.

Hunter Biden’s gambit this morning is to offer an Alford plea, which is a highly unusual situation in which the defendant offers to plead guilty to the charges, admitting only that the government could prove its case — i.e., not admitting guilt, and in particular not admitting criminal intent.

A few things to glean from this.

First, Hunter’s move is rational only if he knows he is getting a pardon. The tax indictment charges him with multiple counts that, if memory serves, could run to 17 years of imprisonment. A normal defendant engages in plea negotiations in order to minimize his potential penal exposure — you offer to plead guilty to a count or two, and the government agrees to dismiss the rest of the charges, and your potential imprisonment is capped. That’s not what Hunter is doing. He’s saying he’ll plead guilty to all charges. He can only be doing that because he’s playing with the house money — he knows he’s not going to prison, so he doesn’t need to worry about capping his potential sentence.

Second, a defendant always has a right to plead guilty to the charges; there need be no agreement with the government. But a defendant needs the government’s approval for an Alford plea.

Third, we are hearing reports that the prosecutors have refused to approve an Alford plea. That is the right call. I was obviously concerned whether faux special counsel David Weiss would make that call. After all, he originally tried to make the case disappear with no charges at all, then offered a preposterous sweetheart deal that would dispose of the case with two puny misdemeanor tax charges (while simultaneously getting a complete walk on the firearms charges through a bogus “diversion” arrangement). An Alford plea would be a disgrace when the government’s case is overwhelming and prosecutors are ready to go to trial (remember, Hunter pulled this stunt on the first day of jury selection, which means the government has to be ready to go, and apparently its witnesses are ready to take the stand). On the other hand, though, an Alford plea to all charges would arguably be better — i.e., more in the public interest — than the deals Weiss has already offered. So it is good that prosecutors are apparently telling Hunter to pound sand.

Fourth, if I am the prosecutor in the case, I figure if I wait Hunter out, he will plead guilty. For the reasons reiterated in my earlier post, Hunter is desperate for this case not to result in a five-week public trial in the run-up to the presidential election. He’s obviously willing to plead guilty to everything in order to avoid that outcome. If prosecutors spurn the Alford plea gambit, I expect Hunter will simply plead guilty, admit guilt, and try to end this sad saga.

We’ll keep monitoring.