Two of the jurors who convicted Hunter Biden on federal gun charges this week say they were particularly affected by testimony from his eldest daughter Naomi, with one saying it was a “mistake” for the defence team to call her as a witness.
Hunter Biden, the President’s only surviving son, was convicted on Tuesday of all three felony charges related to the purchase of a revolver in 2018. Naomi Biden, 30, recounted the erratic behavior in the days after he lied about his addiction to crack cocaine to buy a .38-caliber revolver on Oct ober 12, 2018, The New York Post reports.
Jurors heard she texted him at one point saying: “I’m really sad, dad. I can’t take this. I don’t know what to say. I just miss you so much. And want to hang out with you.”
Speaking to the outlet, one juror, a 51-year-old woman, said, “It just seemed so sad for her to see her father in such a state. She was happy when she thought he was getting better, then he relapsed.”
A second juror, a 68-year-old man, said if he were representing Biden he “probably wouldn’t have called her” as a witness.
READ MORE: Joe Biden’s son Hunter found guilty of lying about drug addiction to buy gun
“I felt sorry for Naomi, I really did,” he said. “I don’t think any daughter should have to be up there testifying on her father’s behalf. That was heart-wrenching and I think all the jurors felt the same thing.”
Jurors found Hunter Biden guilty of lying to a federally licensed gun dealer, making a false claim on the application by saying he was not a drug user and illegally having the gun for 11 days.
He faces up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Maryellen Noreika, though first-time offenders do not get anywhere near the maximum, and it’s unclear whether she would give him time behind bars.
Joe Biden, who has said he is trying to restore faith in the justice system after the Donald Trump presidency, has pledged not to interfere in his son’s federal trial and said in a solemn ABC News interview that he won’t pardon his son.
The President has steered clear of the federal courtroom in Delaware where his son was tried and said little about the case, wary of creating an impression of interfering in a criminal matter brought by his own Justice Department.
But allies of the Democrat have worried about the toll that the trial — and now the conviction — will take on the 81-year-old, who has long been concerned with his only living son’s health and sustained sobriety.
The proceedings put a spotlight on a dark time in Hunter Biden’s life, including his spiraling descent after Beau’s death in 2015. The trial featured deeply personal testimony from former romantic partners and embarrassing evidence such as text messages and photos of Hunter Biden with drug paraphernalia or partially clothed.
Hunter Biden’s legal troubles aren’t over. He faces a trial in September in California on charges of failing to pay $1.4 million (£1.1m) in taxes, and congressional Republicans have signalled they will keep going after him in their stalled impeachment effort into the president. The president has not been accused or charged with any wrongdoing by prosecutors investigating his son.
Hunter Biden had hoped last year to resolve a long-running investigation federal investigation under a deal with prosecutors that would avoided the spectacle of a trial so close to the 2024 election.
Under the deal, he would have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor tax offenses and avoid prosecution in the gun case if he stayed out of trouble for two years.
But the deal fell apart after Noreika, who was nominated by Trump, questioned unusual aspects of the proposed agreement, and the lawyers could not resolve the matter.
Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed top investigator David Weiss, Delaware’s U.S. attorney, as a special counsel last August, and a month later Hunter Biden was indicted.
Hunter Biden has said he was charged because the Justice Department bowed to pressure from Republicans who argued the Democratic president’s son was getting special treatment.
