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topicnews · September 7, 2024

What to expect from the verdicts on Hunter Biden’s weapons and tax offenses

What to expect from the verdicts on Hunter Biden’s weapons and tax offenses

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Hunter Biden could become the first presidential child to go to prison if he is convicted of gun possession in November and tax evasion in December. However, legal experts expect a relatively lenient sentence rather than the decades-long prison sentence that the convictions could put him at risk.

The two verdicts were the culmination of a five-year federal investigation. Biden pleaded guilty Thursday to all nine counts of failing to pay his taxes from 2016 to 2019. His June trial and conviction on three gun charges included harrowing testimony about his crack cocaine addiction during that time, and he spared his family a second ordeal with his surprise tax confession.

Biden, 54, must now prepare to face a sentence of up to 25 years in prison for weapons offenses on Nov. 13 and up to 17 years in prison for tax offenses on Dec. 16. The convictions came after a plea deal fell through in July 2023 that would have given him the opportunity to get off with probation and no prison time.

But legal experts believe that as a first-time offender, Biden will not receive anywhere near the maximum statutory sentences in the rulings of U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in the gun case and U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi in the tax case.

More: “I will not cause any more pain to my family”: Hunter Biden pleads guilty in tax matters

Federal authorities will calculate sentencing guidelines for judges based on the circumstances of the crime and take into account mitigating circumstances such as substance abuse issues, the amount of unpaid taxes of at least $1.4 million and the need to deter future crimes. However, judges are not bound by the guidelines and defense attorneys can ask for a lesser sentence.

Shanlon Wu, a former adviser to Clinton-era Attorney General Janet Reno, said he would be “a little surprised if he received a harsh punishment as a first-time offender, namely a long prison sentence.”

“I think we can expect a relatively lenient sentence,” Wu said. “Under these circumstances, I don’t think it’s impossible that the judge could impose probation or house arrest on him.”

Legal experts expect Biden to highlight his recovery from drug addiction, his repayment of back taxes before charges were filed and the fact that no deterrent would be needed to stop him from buying another gun in addition to drug use.

More: At the start of the Democratic Party Convention, the House of Representatives unveils the impeachment report against Biden

“I expect that at sentencing he will argue that all of these problems ultimately stem from his addiction, which he has now got under control, and that he was put through the wringer in a way that a normal citizen whose father was not a political figure probably would not have experienced,” said Julian Andre, a former federal prosecutor. “It is reasonable to assume that he will seek parole and argue that the government thought it was appropriate two years ago.”

Here is what we know about the verdict:

Experts: Hunter Biden’s fame is unlikely to hurt him when the verdict is announced

Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell argued that prosecutors charged him with additional crimes after the deal collapsed without additional evidence because of political pressure on Justice Department special counsel David Weiss. But Weiss told Congress that politics played no role in the investigation.

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said Scarsi, who is presiding over the Los Angeles tax trial, could impose a stiff sentence because the case has attracted so much attention. “I have a feeling he could be strict on the sentence, especially in a case that has attracted so much attention,” Tobias said.

However, Andre said it would be “problematic” if one of the courts sentenced Biden to a longer prison term because his father is president.

“I expect the court will take the position that his notoriety is irrelevant and that he should be treated like any other person who has pleaded guilty to these crimes,” Andre said.

More: Hunter Biden seeks to drop criminal proceedings based on Trump’s special counsel’s decision

Experts: Biden’s lawyers will argue that gun and tax offenses are rarely prosecuted

The gun charges against Biden – he lied about his drug use when purchasing a handgun in 2018 and then owned it for 11 days before it was thrown away by his partner – are rarely pursued unless the weapon was used in a violent crime, legal experts say. The tax charges are rarely pursued after repayment, experts say.

It is also unusual for a defendant to plead guilty to all charges without having agreed on the sentence with the prosecution. Biden will be able to argue that he has taken responsibility and repaid the debt.

“This is a very, very unusual thing,” Wu said. “It allows Lowell to argue that he took full responsibility here.”

More: Supreme Court orders re-examination of gun charges behind Hunter Biden conviction

What happened to Hunter Biden’s guilty plea deal?

The settlement, which fell through in July 2023, required Biden to plead guilty to two counts of tax offenses, namely failure to pay taxes and participating in a preliminary hearing for lying about purchasing the gun while under the influence of drugs.

But prosecutors and defense attorneys disagreed at the hearing about whether the deal protected Biden from further possible future charges. Noreika rejected the deal because of the dispute.

Biden’s concern was that he was also under investigation for possible lobbying for foreign companies to influence government policy without reporting it, a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. He had business dealings with companies in Ukraine, China and other countries that Republicans have seized on. But Biden was not charged with foreign lobbying.

More: Hunter Biden’s gun case was initiated by an ATF form. The store violated federal law.

Hunter Biden paid back taxes but couldn’t tell the jury

When Biden pleaded guilty this week, he expressed frustration that he could not have told the jury that he had paid back the taxes and penalties in October 2021 with the help of a wealthy friend, Kevin Morris.

“When I was addicted, I wasn’t thinking about my taxes, I was just thinking about surviving,” Biden said in a statement. “But the jury would never have heard that or known that I paid every penny of my back taxes, including penalties.”

Prosecutors refused to allow the disclosures because they could hinder tax enforcement if a suspect could pay the fine to avoid prosecution. Biden announced in December 2020 that he was under investigation and paid the back taxes and penalties ten months later.

More: Should Hunter Biden go to prison? Jurors and former addicts say “no”

Hunter Biden became the Republicans’ punching bag

Politics has always lurked behind and alongside the investigations. Hunter Biden was a popular target of Republican lawmakers investigating his father – even after President Joe Biden decided not to run for re-election.

Three committees – the Judiciary Committee, the Oversight and Accountability Committee, and the Budget Committee – released a report on the impeachment of former President Biden on the first day of the Democratic National Convention that is full of allegations of influence peddling and obstruction of justice.

The report, which did not call for impeachment, accused Biden Sr. of participating in a conspiracy that helped his relatives obtain millions of dollars from foreign entities by attending dinners and making phone calls.

But the president called the corruption allegations “lies.” His brother James Biden and son Hunter Biden both denied that he was involved in their business deals. There was no evidence that the president was discussing business when he called his son while meeting with potential clients.

“It was, you know, just general pleasantries and conversations in general, about geography, about the weather, whatever,” Devon Archer, a business associate of Hunter Biden, told a House committee.

After a hearing in March, even some Republicans in the House of Representatives questioned the evidence against the president.

“Despite years of investigation, there is no clear evidence of corruption by his good-for-nothing son,” wrote former prosecutor Ken Buck (Republican of Colorado) in a commentary.

In the end, it was his father’s Justice Department, employing a prosecutor appointed by Donald Trump – and not Republicans in the House – that finally drew Hunter Biden’s blood. Regardless of what sentence he receives, Joe Biden has stated that he will not offer his son a presidential pardon or clemency.

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