Hunter Biden Gun Case in Jury’s Hands after Intense Closing Arguments

Wilmington, Del. – The jury in Hunter Biden’s felony gun trial began deliberating Monday afternoon after the prosecution and defense delivered closing arguments in a case that has put the first son’s destructive, chaotic past under a microscope.

Federal prosecutors Leo Wise and Derek Hines urged the jurors to use common sense and convict Hunter Biden based on the “overwhelming evidence” that he was actively addicted to crack cocaine when he claimed otherwise on a federal gun-purchase background-check form in October 2018.

“The evidence is undisputed,” Wise said of Hunter Biden’s two false-statement charges for allegedly lying about his drug addiction on the background-check form. Hunter Biden is facing an additional charge for allegedly possessing the firearm while he was addicted to drugs. He pleaded not guilty to the charges last year and faces up to 25 years in prison, though he’ll likely receive a much lighter sentence if found guilty, given his status as a first-time, nonviolent offender.

Wise reminded the jurors of the extensive witness testimony, texts, images, videos, bank records, and memoir excerpts presented to demonstrate Hunter’s drug addiction.

The law does not require that the prosecution demonstrate Biden was using crack at the exact moment he purchased the firearm, or at the time he possessed it, Wise explained. Rather, the law demands that the prosecution show a pattern of behavior indicating that Biden was addicted to crack cocaine “recently enough,” relative to the gun purchase.

Nonetheless, Wise poured through the prosecution’s evidence showing Biden appeared to use crack cocaine in October 2018, specifically citing Biden’s texts referring to a drug dealer named Mookie and his admission in another text that he smoked crack and slept in his car.

The prosecution presented evidence Monday morning showing that Biden visited 7/11 locations at odd hours, and he sent texts suggesting he was going to the 7/11 to meet up with drug dealers. In his memoir, Biden recounted the process of going to a 7/11 and waiting for his dealers to show up. The defense rested its case on Monday morning, and Hunter declined to testify.

Hunter Biden’s ex-girlfriend Hallie, the widow of his deceased brother Beau, recalled seeing drug remnants and paraphernalia in Biden’s car on October 23, 2018, when she found the gun and disposed it in a trash can behind a nearby grocery store.

Before that, Hunter Biden’s ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan testified that Biden was smoking crack at his Malibu house in September 2018, soon after his August 2018 rehab stint.

Wise cited an excerpt from Biden’s memoir discussing his relapse after the rehab, and another excerpt in which Biden said he failed to get sober and reconcile with Hallie in Delaware.

“Take the defendant’s word for it,” Wise urged the jurors. He anticipated that Lowell would try to argue that Biden was moving forward and changing his behavior in October 2018.

“Lying to buy a gun is a choice,” Wise concluded.

Abbe Lowell, Hunter’s defense attorney, delivered a lengthy closing argument meant to cast doubt on the prosecution’s evidence and focus on Hunter Biden’s supposed changes in behavior.

Throughout his closing argument, Lowell accused the prosecution of relying on “suspicion” and “conjecture” rather than hard evidence. Lowell disputed whether Biden “knowingly” lied on the gun paperwork, and he likened the prosecution’s presentation of the evidence to playing magic tricks on the jury.

As Wise anticipated, Lowell went into Biden’s conduct leading up to October 2018 and argued that Biden had begun getting clean and was therefore justified in claiming he was not a drug addict at the time he purchased the revolver.

Lowell suggested that Kestan’s testimony was rehearsed with prosecutors, and he questioned her credibility given her prosecutorial-immunity agreement. Kestan’s testimony was backed up by numerous photos of her drug-fueled activities with Biden, but she did not have any pictures of Hunter Biden in September 2018, Lowell noted.

Next, Lowell went through the inability of “poor Hallie Biden” to remember specific details from the day she discovered Hunter Biden’s firearm and discarded it. He asserted that prosecutors lacked context for some of Biden’s incriminating texts, and he claimed that Hunter Biden was lying to Hallie about his behavior.

In a similar manner, Lowell questioned the context in which Hunter Biden’s gun pouch tested positive for cocaine, and he tried to demonstrate differences in Biden’s texting patterns around the time of the revolver purchase.

Lowell disputed the purpose of Biden’s cash withdrawals and later went into the specific sequence of events from Biden’s trip to StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply, the gun store at the center of the case. Gun salesman Gordon Cleveland testified about Biden’s intent to buy a firearm when he went into the store, but Lowell argued that Cleveland’s sales skills were the reason that Biden decided to buy a Colt Cobra and accessories.

Afterwards, Lowell appealed to the jury’s compassion by discussing Hunter’s struggles and the stakes of their upcoming verdict. He presented another summary of his objections to the prosecution’s evidence and tried to anticipate the questions the jurors would ask themselves.

Hines argues that in order for the jurors to believe Lowell, they would have to assume that Kestan and Hallie Biden lied, in violation of their immunity agreements, that Hunter Biden lied in his book, that Hunter Biden lied to Hallie, that Naomi Biden lied about her father’s communications, that someone else put crack inside Biden’s gun pouch, and that Hunter withdrew thousands of dollars of cash for ordinary expenses instead of using his credit card.

After the closing arguments, the jury deliberated until they were dismissed at 4:30 in the afternoon.

The jurors will resume deliberations Tuesday morning.