Jury selection in Hunter Biden’s trial on federal gun charges kicked off Monday in a Delaware courtroom, with dozens of prospective jurors quizzed by the judge, prosecutors, and lawyers for the president’s son.
By the late afternoon in Wilmington, 47 potential jurors had been selected for the jury pool, according to NBC News—more than double the number necessary to seat a full panel of 12 jurors and four alternates.
Though several potential jurors were dismissed—for reasons ranging from family health issues to a professed lack of impartiality—the vast majority were allowed to remain in the pool. Most said they knew only the basic facts of the case, with few potential jurors saying they’d read into it beyond the headlines.
But at least two prospective jurors were dismissed after mentioning they had been friendly with Hunter’s elder brother, the late Beau Biden.
“Beau and I played a squash tournament together,” one told the court, NBC News reported. Another, a woman, explained that Wilmington was “a small place,” according to the network.
“Beau was a friend of the family,” she added. “We miss him.”
More than a dozen potential jurors told the court they’d had a loved one struggle with substance abuse issues, a key issue at play for the defense, with the case potentially hinging on the definition of “addiction” and whether Hunter had actively been using drugs on specific days in 2018.
Only one member of that group of potential jurors was dismissed, however, and only after she said “she had strong opinions about gun control and believed that Hunter Biden was being prosecuted in part because his father is the president,” according to NBC News.
Hunter, the first child of a sitting president to face a felony trial, is fighting three charges related to lying on a federal gun form. He is accused of lying to a licensed firearms dealer and making a false claim on a federal gun purchase form by saying he was not an unlawful user of a controlled substance. He is also alleged to have kept the gun illegally for 11 days.
If convicted, he could theoretically face a sentence of up to 25 years in prison, according to the DOJ, though the department notes that actual sentences are typically more lenient than possible maximum sentences.
At least part of the proceedings on Monday were attended by Hunter’s family members, including his wife Melissa Cohen, sister Ashley Biden, and stepmother, first lady Jill Biden, who was celebrating her 73rd birthday Monday.
“Happy birthday” Hunter said as he greeted Jill in the courtroom, according to The Washington Post, adding: “I got you a special event.” They both reportedly laughed at the joke.
Hunter’s father, President Joe Biden, was not expected to attend the proceedings, though he did release a statement about his “boundless love for my son, confidence in him, and respect for his strength.”
“I am the president, but I am also a Dad,” he said. “Jill and I love our son, and we are so proud of the man he is today.”
Hunter’s history-making trial opens just four days after his father’s likely rival in the upcoming presidential election, Donald Trump, was convicted on 34 felony counts in his own landmark trial in Manhattan.
Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records in order to hide a hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels that was designed to protect his 2016 presidential campaign from being damaged by the emergence of Daniels’ claims of having an extramarital romp with Trump a decade earlier.
Hunter’s trial came after the collapse of a deal with prosecutors last year which would have seen him plead guilty to tax charges and enter into a pretrial diversion program on the gun charges. After the deal unraveled, Justice Department special counsel David Weiss brought two prosecutions against Hunter. In addition to the gun case, Hunter is set to face a second trial on tax charges in September in California.
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