Hunter Biden’s upcoming gun trial could take up to 2 weeks due to sharp arguments over evidence

WILMINGTON, Del. — Supervising judge Hunter Biden A federal trial on firearms charges agreed Friday that prosecutors would not be allowed to tell jurors about other unflattering episodes from his personal life, but left the door open to allowing them in if the president’s son testified.

It is unclear whether the president’s son will take the stand during the trial, which could last up to two weeks during his father’s re-election campaign and is likely to include sharp arguments over evidence.

President Joe Biden’s son is accused of lying about October 2018 drug operate on a gun purchase form he held for about 11 days in Delaware. The trial is scheduled to begin on June 3 and could last up to two weeks as his father’s election campaign unfolds.

Hunter Biden admitted that he was addicted to crack cocaine during this period, but his lawyers claim that he did not break the law and that the case is politically motivated. He did not speak to reporters as he accompanied his lawyers to and from the Wilmington courthouse for Friday’s hearing.

Prosecutors won a key victory as U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika found they would not have to prove he specifically used drugs on the day of the purchase.

She agreed to defense pressure not to reveal other details about his past, including a child support case in Arkansas and his discharge from the Navy after a positive drug test. But if he takes such a stance, “there are a lot of issues that could become more controversial,” Noreika said. Prosecutors acknowledged that these episodes probably wouldn’t matter until he testified.

She also agreed to consider defense questions about the content laptop, which he allegedly dropped off at a repair shop in Delaware.

Hunter Biden’s lawyers want to ask questions during the trial about the authenticity of the laptop data. Prosecutors say there is no evidence of a security breach and that a drawn-out fight would be a waste of time. The laptop has been controversial for years Republicans accessed and distributed personal information from this.

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika said she would consider objections to specific data as the trial unfolds.

Prosecutors also plan to show jurors excerpts from his 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things,” in which he detailed his struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse after the death of his older brother in 2015Beau, from brain cancer at the age of 46.

Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors were selective about evidence, and the judge agreed to allow Biden’s defense attorneys to introduce a broader selection.

His lawyer, Abbe Lowell, also says there is evidence that employees changed the gun purchase form after the sale. Prosecutors say only minor additions were made unrelated to the parts completed by Hunter Biden.

Noreika did not immediately say whether the defense could introduce a revised version of the form at the trial, which is scheduled to begin with jury selection on June 3.

Hunter Biden is also ahead of us (*2*)federal tax levies in Los Angeles, and the trial in this case is scheduled to begin in September. He is accused of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes over four years, living an “extravagant lifestyle” during a period during which he admitted struggling with addiction. The back taxes have already been paid.

In both cases, Hunter Biden’s lawyers unsuccessfully called for their release. They argued, among other things, that prosecutors bowed to political pressure to indict him after the deal collapsed in court and was publicly derided by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, as a “sweetheart deal.”

Trump, who is trying to unseat the Democratic president, faces his own legal problems. He is accused four criminal casesincluding There is an ongoing hush money lawsuit in New York.

The long-running federal investigation in the case of the president’s son seemed ready to end in a settlement last year, but the settlement collapsed after the judge asked questions about it. Then, charges were brought against Hunter Biden.

Under the deal, he would receive two years of probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax charges. He would also have avoided a gun charge if he had stayed out of trouble.