Below is my column in The Hill on the start of the Hunter Biden trial and the elements of a classic jury nullification strategy by the defense. It is not clear that it will work in an otherwise open-and-shut case, but it might. What is clear is that it may be all that Biden has short of the Rapture.
Here is the column:
There was an interesting development this week in the Hunter Biden gun trial: the fact that there will indeed be a Hunter Biden gun trial.
That development is surprising only because there do not appear to be any facts in dispute in this case. And the primary witness against Hunter Biden will be Hunter Biden himself.
The sole issue in this case is whether Biden filed a false gun form (ATF Form 4473) in which, as a condition for his purchase of a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver from the StarQuest Shooters and Survival Supply in Wilmington, Del., he stated that he was not a user of drugs.
Biden’s counsel, Abbe Lowell, previously suggested that his client may have had a window of sobriety when he signed the form, but then returned to his addiction afterward. But then Hunter himself blew that theory away with his public comments and books. Lowell then suggested in court that someone else may have checked the box on the form.
In the interim, Lowell has brought a litany of challenges. At one point, he claimed that the government must fulfill a prior dead plea agreement. At another, he adopted an argument of the National Rifle Association challenging the underlying statute.
The defense also failed this week to call a last-minute witness who would testify that Hunter may not have known that he was an addict. The defense was accused of essentially hiding the ball with the expert’s expected testimony so Judge Maryellen Noreika barred the appearance of the Columbia professor.
Yet, again, Hunter Biden himself would have destroyed the defense. The form asks if Hunter was a user of drugs, not just an addict: “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
Hunter wrote how he was a user of a wide array of drugs for years. It is hard to imagine he thought himself as clean as a clergyman in Wilmington in 2018.
So why wouldn’t Hunter just plead guilty? Even without his earlier plea deal, a guilty plea could significantly reinforce a request to avoid jail time in the case. It would also avoid an embarrassing trial for himself and his father during a presidential election.
While Hunter could always throw in the towel before the start of testimony, there is currently no discernible strategy beyond hoping that a pending case in the Supreme Court might undermine the indictment.
There may also be another possible strategy in play: jury nullification.
Unlike Donald Trump in Manhattan, Delaware is Biden country. The chance that he will get strong supporters of his father on the jury is an almost statistical certainty. In 2020, Joe Biden received roughly 60 percent of the vote over Donald Trump in the state. Having first lady Jill Biden, who is extremely popular, at the trial will only reinforce the connection.
In addition to a favorable jury pool, Biden may be hoping that testimony on his travails with drugs will prompt one or more jurors to ignore the law and vote to acquit. Notably, virtually all of the selected jurors have said that they know of someone who has struggled with drugs.
Indeed, Judge Noreika already appears to suspect such a strategy. Noreika rejected the effort of the defense to introduce an altered version of the federal firearms form created by the gun store employees. They argue that the alteration showed a political bias on the part of the prosecutors. The court found the document “irrelevant” and chastised the defense team for pursuing “conspiratorial” theories and an effort to confuse or mislead the jury.
She noted that the use of the altered form would be “unduly prejudicial and invites (jury) nullification.”
Jury nullification arguments have long been banned or discouraged in many courtrooms. Nevertheless, jury nullification has its advocates. For example, Georgetown Law Professor Paul Butler has called for Black jurors to refuse to convict Black defendants of drug crimes. Butler has said that “my goal is the subversion of the present criminal justice system.”
Hunter Biden is obviously not the primary concern of Professor Butler in the impact of drug prosecutions on the Black community. However, he has also argued that “jury nullification is just part of an arsenal of tools to end the failed “war on drugs.”
Biden’s case has all of the characteristics of a nullification defense. Even if he cannot secure acquittal, the combination of political and social elements at play in Delaware could produce a hung jury.
Trying a Biden in Delaware is a challenge for any prosecutor, even without the potential sympathies for a reformed drug addict. With the first lady sitting behind him, the family ties will be on full display. There is an understandable parental desire to show emotional support for Hunter, but prosecutors cannot be thrilled by the potential effect on jurors in the pro-Biden state.
Wilmington is President Biden’s hometown, where he still maintains a family residence. In Wilmington itself in 2020, Biden received 26,698 votes to Trump’s 3,580.
The hope is that, as President Biden once said, “Delaware is about getting everyone in the room, no matter how tough the problem, no matter how big the disagreement, and staying in the room until we figure it out.” Most everyone is in the courtroom and the hope is that at least some of these jurors will “figure it out” in their favor.
Perhaps Hunter put it best: “The single best thing is, family comes first. Over everything. I can’t think of anything that has been more pervasive and played a larger part in my life than that simple lesson.”
The defense may be hoping that, for some jurors, “family [will] come first … over everything,” particularly over the evidence.
Jonathan Turley is the J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at the George Washington University Law School.
We wanted to understand the details of the theory that COVID started in a lab in Wuhan, China. So we talked to three unvaccinated Newsmax viewers at a Panda Express in Altoona.
Then we asked the guy who most closely resembles a chimpanzee that we could find.
Fauci
The lack of Democrats attacking, harassing, or doxxing the judge in the Hunter Biden trial shows Joe Biden’s weakness with his base.
No, it doesn’t. It proves that Democrats don’t belong to a cult like the MAGA-ites do. Democrats respect the rule of law–if they didn’t, Biden would have already pardoned Hunter. AND, unlike Trump, Hunter’s family showed up to support him. AND, unlike Trump, Hunter Biden is not a presidential candidate, someone who deigns to be qualified by temperament and integrity to be the leader of the fre world.
Gigi
Watch the video and
Explain to me the 4 seconds immediately following Joes announcement yesterday.
Tell me exactly what you see.
Show yourself for the sycophant liar that you are.
Oh, and thank you for keeping your ad hom of Trump under 1000 words for a change.
I don’t click on videos published by MAGA-ites because I don’t trust people like you not to have uploaded a virus..
And is that how it works in your world GIgI, maga-ites always hitting you with viruses???
Your display of irrational fear and paranoia says a lot though.
LMAO
Ya fvcking idiot. I didnt post a link.
Are you blind as well as stupid?
I gave you credit for being able to find the video of your dear leader. I could have my 6 year old granddaughter do it if you can’t.
Given that so many voters in DE in the November 2020 election FOOLishly voted for biden/harris (despite biden’s failing mental health) I expect there to be at least one FOOLish jury member who will refuse to find sonny-boy biden guilty simply because of his family name. The entire biden family is gambling on a trial, rather than some guilty plea, because sonny-boy has been the source of the family’s RICO $$.
thetenants1970: You and Karen S. FOOLishly believe, like the MAGA media you rely on, that if you keep repeating the same lies over and over again, they become the truth–is that because that’s how MAGA media got you to believe the Big Lie, the lies about Trump’s criminal trial and the endless lies about JOE Biden being mentally impaired? If anyone has “failing mental health” it’s Trump–he ruminates and obsesses. Just yesterday, he once again went after E. Jean Carroll, despite TWO verdicts against him for defamation. If anyone is dangerous to democracy, it’s Trump–he threatened yesterday to have Hillary Clinton jailed. Where’s the proof that JOE Biden ever got any $$$ illegally? WHERE? You KNOW there’s no proof, but like the MAGA media you rely on, you keep claiming that Biden is impaired mentally, that he is a criminal, that the whole family is a “crime family”, and you believe the Big Lie. You believe that Biden somehow coerced the Manhattan DA to prosecute Trump, that Trump didn’t do anything wrong, that the indictment didn’t say what he did wrong, that it was just an accounting slip up, on and on and on. There’s no evidence of any of these lies, and it’s immoral to keep on publishing them. It’s pathetic, really.
Go look at the video, ya lying kunt, and tell us what you see. Tell us with a straight face he isnt impaired.
I can admit trumps a douche. I can even admit he is a criminal. I also think you dont name the man and then find the crime.
You cant admit the truth about biden no matter what. Thats the difference between us.
Tell us that 12th amendment lie again will ya?
You’re the pathetic one. You’ve yet to admit your epic fail on that one.
The most corrupt apparatchiks in communist America, Merrick Garland and Christopher Wray, will creatively wriggle the disgustingly debauched son of one of the most corrupt presidents, other than the completely ineligible Obama, son of a foreign citizen father, out of this “slam dunk” felony.
_________
“Corruption: Don’t Leave Home Without It.”
– The Entire Rancid Biden Family
What is it called when a jury is instructed to ignore the lack of evidence and find the defendant guilty?
Doesn’t anyone see a Second Amendment issue here ???
I thought the 2nd Amendment guarantees ALL CITIZENS the right to bear arms ??
Can someone point to the part of the 2nd Amendment that says you can’t buy or own a gun if you take drugs.
It seems to me that any statute that denies drug users their 2nd Amendment rights is unconstitutional.
A statute cannot override the Constitution.
If you agree that drug users cannot buy or own a gun, then to be consistent you must require all gun owners to take a drug test.
Anyone who fails the test loses their right to gun ownership.
Very interesting that MAGA cult gun owners have no problem with denying 2nd Amendment rights to people they do not like !!
Who is next !!
Democrats
Black people
Women
Gay people
Woke people
The list is endless !!
I’m almost certain that The Founder Fathers intended that the 2nd Amendment only applies to MAGA cult members.
I think James Madison discussed this extensively in one of the Federalist Papers.
I would have expected that a revered Constitutional law “expert and scholar” such as Turley would see the obvious 2nd Amendment issue here.
The 2nd Amendment says nothing about drug users being denied guns.
A statute cannot override the Constitution.
Period.
Full stop.
End of discussion.
That would be a very originalist interpretation of the constitution. Drug addicts and felons are not mentioned in the constitution being forbidden from bearing arms. So Hunter Biden shouldn’t be charged at all.
Steaming turd^^^^
“ Do you know whether the defendant checked those boxes?” Lowell asked Jensen.
“Not from my own observation,” she said. “I’m not qualified as a handwriting expert.”
“ He also noted the phrasing of questions on the form, with some saying, “Have you ever been,” and others merely saying, “Have you” — a point meant to emphasize that the reading of the questions could mean Hunter Biden was being truthful in saying he wasn’t currently using drugs when he purchased the gun.”
Reasonable doubt? Perhaps.
“ Another section was written in red pen with zeros crossed through as well.
“Other than what people have told you, do you know the sequence of events when Hunter went into Starquest Shooters?”
“No,” Jensen replied.”
If the form was filled in by the store there can be doubt that Hunter checked the box in question.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ded.82797/gov.uscourts.ded.82797.177.2.pdf
That is going to be a problem for the prosecution. It looks like the store salesman filled in information and could have filled in the application to “help” the process move along faster. The owner of the store wanted Hunter out of the store as quickly as possible knowing he was the president’s son. A president considered to be anti-2nd amendment.
Guess not. This is the problem with your stupid blog source.
The store employee testified that she “watched Hunter check the box” concerning drug use.
Oops
Springfield XM .45 in your backpack in dangerous places. 13 rounds jacketed hollow points. 1-2 extra magazines. Should cover most problems.
GEB,
Unless you are a gang banger, most incidents involving firearms are done and over with usually in just a few seconds with few shots being taken.
If you are in a dangerous place, you do not want your handgun in a backpack, but in a holster on your hip, back, or under your shoulder.
If anyone is interested in following the Hunter Biden trial.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/live-blog/hunter-biden-trial-live-updates-rcna155515
Lowell’s questioning asks about issues that professor Turley avoided.
Here’s Lowell on cross with the FBI agent,
“ He also noted the phrasing of questions on the form, with some saying, “Have you ever been,” and others merely saying, “Have you” — a point meant to emphasize that the reading of the questions could mean Hunter Biden was being truthful in saying he wasn’t currently using drugs when he purchased the gun.
Lowell also questioned what appeared to be several different types of handwriting on the same form, with one date is written “10-12-18” in black ink, while further down the form, another was written in red ink as “01 05 2027,” with the zeros crossed through.
Lowell didn’t say it explicitly, but the handwriting discrepancy could call into question how the form was filled out.”
This goes to the issue that was addressed by the 5th circuit and the alleged alteration of the form by the gun store. That could be a problem for the prosecution.
Svelaz thinks no other lawyer has ever thought to question the wording on the form. LMAO
That Lowell, he is brilliant.
All they have is false facts
——Abbe Lowell
Jesse Watters says Hunter Biden’s jury is probably going to violate their oath and ignore the law because most of them are black.
It’s weird that people keep thinking Fox people are racist.
I can’t figure out why.
They want the Black vote?
They want to offend the Black vote?
I’m confused?
Are those the same Black people that love Trump because he sells golden sneakers?
Maybe Trump can place a cart outside the courthouse and sell them his gold sneakers when they exit.
But, wait. I thought Jesse said black people love convicted felons.
Why wouldn’t they convict Hunter???
Tomorrow, come on out with that white robe and hood for your show.
It’s probably more comfortable than the coat & tie.
Is Jesse Watters saying the Donald Trump jurors upheld their oath and followed the law because most of them were white?
Please provide the exact quote
Hey Jesse, your Black pilot is ready to go and he is wearing a parachute.
He also added that tonight’s cross burning is at 10pm.
“family comes first” ewww
Family comes first? What’s that one about Hunter’s illegitimate daughter?
“Fredo, you’re my older brother, and I love you. But don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family again. Ever.” – Michael Corleone.
On the odd chance of a conviction, Hunter has an excellent ineffective assistance of counsel argument against Lowell: he did not argue that The Russians checked that box because they want Trump to win again.
There is some rich irony that 2nd Amendment rights supporters are trying to support stronger gun laws!
This gun law seems blatantly unconstitutional. This 1960’s law was never intended for non-violent offenses and it’s a preemptive law (illegal under the U.S. Constitution).
The gun law doesn’t penalize a gun owner for actually committing violence while possessing a gun or being impaired while operating a gun.
Compare it to DUI driving laws. Drinking alcohol in your own home and not driving would disqualify you from owning a gun – since it’s an unconstitutional preemptive law.
Why is anyone really interested in this trial? The real issue was the payments to Hunter from foreign countries for influence access, which issue has been effectively taken off the table by Justice not extending the statute of limitations. Again, so what?
I wounder if the Prosecution will call Mr. Jeremy Bash?
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/08/30/15/61870443-0-image-a-11_1661869404587.jpg
Re:
EXCLUSIVE: Top Republican claims Biden is using the government to protect Hunter and his family after CIA chief of staff (Mr. Jeremy Bash) who dismissed laptop story as ‘Russian intelligence’ was appointed to White House intelligence advisory board
By: Katelyn Caralle, U.S. Political Reporter and Morgan Phillips, Politics Reporter and Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter ~ August 30th, 2022
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11160651/Top-Republican-claims-Biden-using-government-protect-Hunter-family.html
This Trials a lot more juicier than the Trump-Stormy one-nighter. Stormy would have gotten a lot more miles out of Hunter (and DNC Hush $) had she had a tryst with Hunter. Time to bring on Natasha and Svetlana!
My thoughts are that Hunter Biden will walk away from this free and clear. He should tell his wife to keep her mouth shut. She could get into trouble for harassing a witness. The whole thing is disgusting and seedy. I am sorry the Joe Biden is not a better father. Showering with and causing his own daughter to be “uncomfortable”, not keeping tabs on his errant son. The whole thing is simply sad.
It’s certainly just coincidence that Trump’s trials are in mostly Dem districts
and now Pres. Biden’s son gets tried in a mostly Dem district.
There’s no way anyone could possibly think there are any thumbs on any scales.
Trump committed his crimes in democratic districts. Perhaps he shouldn’t have committed crimes in democratic districts .
Conservatives seem to hate Joe Biden because he was chauffeured to grade school in a limousine (never rode a school bus like most of us) and then dodged the Vietnam War draft by going to the Ivy League Wharton School of Finance (likely through family connections)…oops that was Donald Trump!
Biden was the non-elitist that attended public school from a working class family and rode the Amtrak train to work most days.
Sorry, no, we don’t hate Biden for growing up as an elite. We hate him because he was a corrupt politician for thirty years. We hate him for his stack of Executive Orders on his first day as president to open the borders wide, then keeping them open ever since. We hate him for his dimwitted foreign policy, for his dimwitted energy policy, for his dimwitted crushing our economy. We hate him for destroying US justice and making us a Banana Republic. And that is just the beginning of the list of reasons we hate him.
Nationwide it’s estimated that about 20 million Americans (6% of the entire U.S. population) have done what Hunter has done with almost none of them being prosecuted for any crime (less than 1/10% receiving convictions).
For constitutional conservatives, the 14th Amendment required equal treatment under the law. So based on nationwide enforcement Hunter should receive light penalty from this obsolete and unconstitutional gun law.
It’s a highly inaccurate comparison of justice between Hunter and Trump. Hunter is not the head of the federal Executive Branch and not bound by a constitutional oath of office.
By comparison, Trump as Commander-In-Chief and bound by a constitutional oath of office engineered a coup attempt months before the results of the 2020 election. Trump then incited the coup attempt. Trump stole classified documents including stealing nuclear secrets as Commander-In-Chief and after swearing supreme loyalty to the U.S. Constitution.
A better comparison would be Trump to George H.W. Bush – parents with children abusing drugs and alcohol. During his college years George W. Bush was very similar to Hunter in abusing cocaine and alcohol. Neither Hunter or college age George W. Bush held governing authority or were legally bound by the U.S. Constitution when snorting cocaine.
If I posted that I would want to be Anonymous also. Do you still get paid by the word?
The Media Matters DNC Trolls get paid by the characters hence their daily, repetitive, gibberish and use of extraneous letters, symbols and nonsense. Same crap day after day. Thoughtful content and logic are not required
Hunter and GW Bush were also both
kicked out of the military
for their cocaine use.
“20 million Americans have done what Hunter has done”. Hunter cannot be compared to George W Bush or more than a few of the 20 million you cite. He was a steady and heavy drug user of cocaine for years, according to himself. Along the way, he must have generated millions of dollars in income for international drug dealers who destabilize their own countries, and other countries on the drug trail, and who kill each other and government officials who get in the way. 3000 Americans per month are dying just from Fentanyl. And, he is not being singled out politically, like Trump. He brought his actions to the attention of authorities by abandoning his laptop and by writing a book that dramatized his addiction.