The announcement from defense attorney Abbe Lowell was made as the trial reaches its final stage before jury deliberation.
Defense lawyer Abbe Lowell indicated in court on June 10 that Hunter Biden will likely not testify in his federal gun trial and asked the judge to instruct the jury not to hold it against his client.
Mr. Biden is facing three felony charges related to a 2018 firearm purchase.
Authorities accuse Mr. Biden of lying to the federally licensed gun store by illegally claiming on his application that he was not a drug user at the time of purchase and then unlawfully possessing the gun for 11 days.
Mr. Biden has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his defense attorneys argue that if he was addicted to crack cocaine when he purchased the gun, he was in “denial” and, therefore, could not have lied on the form.
Prosecutors rested their case on June 7 after a week of testimony from Mr. Biden’s ex-partners and expert witnesses, probing into his years of drug and alcohol addiction.
The defense called three witnesses on June 7, including the gun store owner and the employee who sold Mr. Biden the gun. Defense also called his daughter, Naomi Biden, to the stand, who testified that her father appeared to be of sound mind in the weeks leading up to the gun purchase.
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Prosecutors then pointed to text messages during October 2018, the month of the gun purchase, in which Mr. Biden refused to meet with his daughter for unknown reasons.
The judge resumed the trial on June 10 by discussing final jury instructions with the attorneys. This included the immunity granted to Mr. Biden’s sister-in-law, Hallie Biden, and former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan, for their testimony in the trial.
Hallie Biden originally found the firearm in Mr. Biden’s car 11 days after he purchased it, on Oct. 23, 2018. She threw it in a public garbage can, prompting a police report and search for the discarded firearm.
Mr. Biden’s attorneys argued in their proposed jury instructions that certain words have “overly expansive and amorphous” definitions, such as what it means to be a drug “user” and to “possess” a firearm.
They suggested that the proposed definitions would deny Mr. Biden a fair trial and that if he is convicted with instructions containing those definitions, the verdict cannot be sustained on appeal.
Mr. Biden’s stepmother, First Lady Jill Biden, uncle James Biden, aunt Valerie Biden Owens, and sister, Ashley Blazer Biden, were all in attendance at the courtroom on June 10. They were later joined by Mr. Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen Biden, and the first lady’s sister, Bonny Jacobs.
Mr. Biden is facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted in the federal gun case, although first-time offenders typically receive less than the maximum sentence. It is also not clear if the judge will give Mr. Biden jail time if he is handed a guilty verdict.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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