Below is my column in the New York Post on the first day of testimony in the trial of Hunter Biden. Every claim of the defense seemed to collapse in the first two days of the trial. The defense argued that Hunter did not check the box on the gun form, so the prosecutors called the employee who watched him fill out the form. It claimed he was not using drugs at the time, so the prosecutors read texts from the next day in which Hunter sought to buy crack and called a series of witnesses on his continual use of crack during the period. The defense previously claimed the laptop showed evidence of tampering, so the prosecutor called a FBI agent establishing that there is no evidence of tampering and that the laptop is authentic. The defense claimed that Hunter just wandered into the store and was pressured to buy a gun, so prosecutors called an employee who testified that Hunter came in specifically wanting to buy a gun. As previously discussed, the lack of a defense is becoming glaringly obvious as is the nullification strategy.
Here is the column:
On the first day of his trial, Hunter Biden spoke to the jury . . . against himself.
The prosecutors in his Wilmington gun trial read long excerpts from Hunter’s book on his long addiction to drugs and his self-proclaimed “superpower — finding crack anytime, anywhere.”
Listening to himself was the President’s son, whose counsel had just suggested that Hunter may have had a brief moment where he was drinking as opposed to snorting or smoking.
Accordingly, defense counsel Abby Lowell suggested, Hunter did not “knowingly” deny that he was using drugs when he purchased a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver from the StarQuest Shooters and Survival Supply in Wilmington, Del.
Somehow the argument is that — for a brief moment on October 12, 2018 — Hunter forgot that he was a superpowered junkie.
The problem is that the next prosecution witness is likely to be, again, Hunter Biden.
The day after he bought the gun, Hunter was texting a guy named “Mookie” to score drugs behind a minor league baseball stadium.
Mookie appears to have come through for Hunter since the next day (two days after denying that he used drugs), Hunter allegedly texted Hallie Biden that he was “waiting for a dealer named Mookie.”
Then, two days after the gun purchase, Hunter texted, “I was sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and Rodney.”
That corner appears less than a mile and half from the federal courthouse where Hunter is sitting. It is roughly five miles from the gun shop where he denied using drugs.
Hallie will also testify. She was the widow of Hunter’s deceased brother and started an intimate relationship with Hunter after Beau’s death. She was also allegedly doing crack.
Yet, when Hallie saw the gun in the console of Hunter’s car, she had the presence of mind to realize he was an unstable addict.
She took the gun and threw it into a dumpster behind a restaurant.
The brutal start of the hearing raises the question — again — of why Hunter decided to go to trial. There is no viable defense.
The most that the defense can come up with is a claim that someone else may have completed the form, or that he had a moment of sobriety before heading off to meet Mookie.
In his book, Hunter describes an addiction that led him to smoke crack almost every 15 minutes.
That would seem likely to come to mind when you are given a form asking “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
Certainly his need for drugs was much on Hunter’s mind when he was texting Mookie.
Indeed, not long after the purchase, the Biden family held an intervention at their Delaware home to deal with Hunter’s raging addiction.
These defenses are about as convincing as saying that your client got locked into the bank vault after losing his way to the restroom . . . hours after the bank closed.
So why present unbelievable defenses in Wilmington? Because it is Wilmington. This is Biden’s hometown.
The President maintains his residence in the city and remains the town’s favorite son.
As if the jury needed any reminder, First Lady Jill Biden sitting behind Hunter brings home that this is a Biden trial in Bidentown.
The combination of sympathy for a reformed addict and identification with the Bidens could be enough for a jury nullification strategy.
The defense is not asking the jury to consider the evidence. It is asking the jury to ignore it.
Every juror appeared to confirm knowing someone with a drug addiction, including siblings or other relatives.
Given that panel, Hunter could well take the stand to describe his addiction and lack of clarity of thought.
Hunter’s book offers moving descriptions of his struggle with addiction and could sway some jurors, especially given the relatively minor criminal charges.
Wilmington for Biden is the opposite of Manhattan for Trump. This is a town that overwhelmingly voted for Biden in 2016 and 2020. It is a great jury pool for the defense.
Viewed through a nullification defense, it does not matter how absurd the actual defense is in the case.
It is merely a pretense. Whether it is sympathy for a drug addict or a Biden, the defense clearly hopes that the jury will look beyond the evidence and the crime in this case.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
A jury acting as a legislative body is a manifestation of corruption.
The jurors aren’t legislating anything, nor abolishing any laws.
Go back and respond to your earlier nonsense, Svelaz
Questions for Professor Turley: Am I correct that (i) the risk of jury nullification is inherent in a trial by jury, and (ii) there’s not much the courts can do if a jury goes down the path of nullification?
So how would they know it has not been tampered with?
George, you’re on record supporting the recent conviction of Donald Trump on charges most legal experts agree don’t have evidence of a crime. Now you’re on record defending Hunter Biden on a theory no rational person is making. Those “legal” standards do not remotely reflect the U.S. criminal justice system, but rather a system easily found under totalitarian regimes.
Olly, what most legal experts say is irrelevant to what happens inside the court room.
Trump’s crimes were made clear in the indictment, by the judge and by NY state law. The jury saw and heard evidence of the crime. Thus the reason for the conviction. He was subject to NY state law which has its own quirks and twists about what constitutes fraud or falsification of documents.
Hunter Biden’s crime is in this case is about checking a box saying he is not an addict or user of illegal drugs on a federal form. The distinction is the question is no longer valid because the 5th circuit ruled that merely being an addict or a drug user is not a valid reason to deny anyone their 2nd amendment right to bear arms. Making it a crime to be a user or an addict is unconstitutional.
Most 2nd amendment supporters would agree that merely being an addict or a drug user is not grounds to deny anyone the right to buy or possess a firearm. Just as it is completely legal for an alcoholic to do so. Alcohol is both a depressant and an addictive substance.
“The jury saw and heard evidence ”
New George’s inability to even articulate the crime is a glaring testament to the irrationality of his arguments. He presents a scenario where a conviction is based on a non-crime, and each jury member is asked to select a window, #1, #2, or #3. The defendant is declared guilty if every juror chooses a window. This line of reasoning is not just illogical, it’s a call to action for us to recognize its fallacy and avoid being misled.
New George’s tendency to copy and paste without comprehending the subject matter is a clear indication of his intellectual limitations. If New George can understand what I’m saying, it’s a testament to his lack of intelligence, but it is more likely for him to be confused. (New George, this all means you are Stupid.)
It’s crucial for anyone listening to him to discern the spurious nature of his arguments so as not to fall into the same trap and risk their credibility.
His problem is, he read in vox that that the 5th circuit ruled box 11e unconstitutional. So that was his conclusion. All he needed was evidence.
Yesterday, he actually argued that the rate for prosecuting “LYING ON THE FORM” was 298 out of 27million.
How does one reason with that level of stupidity?
That means that he either thinks
27 million people lied on the form
Or
They pulled 298 forms out of a really big hat, and prosecuted them for lying
He read this ridiculous argument somewhere and repeated it here. He doesnt go to the source or reason for himself.
He mentioned an echo chamber. What a hypocrite. He gets all of his opinions from an echo chamber and deposits them here LMAO. If he was really interested in opposing viewpoints, he’d read turley with an open mind and give his insights the weight they deserve. Instead he just states the opposite and goes looking in his echo chamber for proof once he is sent packing.
He has zero interest in discovering the truth or learning anything. As my dad used to say, its hard to do that with your mouth open.
Waters, NG is an idiot. I argued with him continuously during Covid, and he lied. I stated what the government agencies said. He said it wasn’t true. I copied the report. His mind never changed, and he made the same comment. I told him he remained wrong and should know better. He said I provided no such information or statements to that effect. I copied about 4-6 statements and gave a maximum of two links. He didn’t acknowledge his lies or that he was wrong. He continued to push the false narrative. In subsequent emails, he never acknowledged how many times I copied my statement and its proof.
He’s a nasty piece of garbage. I don’t bother trying to help him. I want others to know what he is and how he lies. Only a very Stupid person can act like him, and some are learning that lesson by example.
He was around during covid???
And pretends not to know who svelaz is???
nui n’est cense ignorer la loi
Secret Service has Hunter Biden gun probe docs it denied having: watchdog
The Secret Service has located hundreds of pages of records tied to the investigation of a gun belonging to Hunter Biden – despite having denied they existed, a government watchdog group said Thursday.
Judicial Watch is investigating whether the Secret Service intervened on behalf of President Biden’s son after the incident, and it has sued the agency for all materials related to the reported purchase, possession, and disposal of the firearm owned by Hunter Biden.
The group has accused the Secret Service of repeatedly changing its position on whether it has any documents related to the investigation.
“The Secret Service’s changing story on records raises additional questions about its role in the Hunter Biden gun incident,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “One thing is clear, Judicial Watch’s persistence means the public may get records that the Secret Service suggested didn’t exist.”
On Nov. 10 (2022), the Secret Service revealed in a court filing that it has located over 100 records, totaling over 400 pages, potentially related to Judicial Watch’s Freedom of Information Act request. The agency says it will complete its initial processing of the records by Jan. 9, 2023, and all non-exempt materials will be handed over to the watchdog by that date.
In April 2021, the Secret Service initially responded to the document request by saying that it had located the relevant records and would process them in accordance with the law, but more than a year later, in October 2022, the Secret Service said that its previous response was sent in error and that it did not have any records related to Hunter Biden’s gun.
In October 2018, Hunter Biden’s sister-in-law-turned-lover, Hallie Biden, allegedly tossed Hunter’s .38-caliber revolver in a dumpster outside a grocery store in Wilmington, Del. Halie, who had been married to Hunter’s late brother Beau Biden, reportedly claimed in text messages that she was afraid her boyfriend would “use” the gun. The incident enraged the president’s drug-abusing son, who texted Hallie at one point, “I won’t ever recover from this.”
Nobody was arrested or charged as a result of the incident, according to reports.
By: Victor Nava – Social Links ~ Dec. 1, 2022
[Link] nypost.com/2022/12/01/secret-service-has-hunter-biden-gun-probe-docs-it-denied-having-watchdog/
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Federal agents have evidence to charge Hunter Biden: report
Federal agents investigating Hunter Biden believe they have for months had enough evidence to charge the first son with tax crimes — as well as for lying about his drug abuse so he could buy a gun, a new report revealed Thursday. The final decision on whether to bring a case against the 52-year-old son of President Biden will be made by Delaware US Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed to his current post by former President Donald Trump.
The Washington Post, citing people familiar with the investigation, reported that agents had determined months ago that they had assembled a viable criminal case against Hunter Biden. The newspaper reported that the investigation, which started by focusing on Hunter’s overseas business dealings revealed in a series of reports by The Post in the fall of 2020, has shifted to whether he reported all his income from foreign transactions.
Hunter Biden himself announced in December of 2020 that his “tax affairs” were being investigated by federal authorities in Delaware, and said he was “confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately.” At some point after that announcement, the first son paid off a tax bill totaling around $2 million. Sources told The Post that Kevin Morris, a big-shot Hollywood lawyer, had loaned the money to defray the debt.
Federal agents investigating Hunter Biden believe they have enough evidence to charge him.
The probe kicked off in 2018, when investigators started looking at whether Hunter and his business associates violated various tax and money laundering laws during their dealings in China and other countries. Emails and other records related to the deals were found on a laptop Hunter dropped off at a Delaware repair shop in 2019 and never reclaimed.
Meanwhile, questions surrounding Hunter’s gun purchase surfaced after Delaware State Police and the FBI launched an investigation in late 2018 following a bizarre incident involving him and his sister-in-law-turned-lover, Hallie Biden. According to a Politico report last year, Hallie took her then-partner’s gun and tossed it into a trash can across from a high school because she feared he was going to kill himself.
Federal agents probing Hunter Biden believe they have gathered enough evidence to charge the first son with tax crimes as well as a false statement related to a gun purchase. Hallie reported the gun missing after she returned to retrieve it, but found it had already vanished.
As cops were probing whether the gun had been used in any crimes after it went missing, Secret Service agents reportedly tried to intervene and contacted the owner of the store where Hunter bought the gun and asked to take the paperwork that recorded the sale.
The store owner, Ron Palmieri, eventually handed over the sale information to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which oversees federal gun laws. A copy of the Oct. 12, 2018 gun transaction form subsequently revealed that Hunter had answered “no” to the question asking, “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
Hunter had been discharged from the Navy Reserve five years earlier after testing positive for cocaine and admitted in his own memoir released last year that he was addicted to crack around the time he bought the gun.
Lying on a federal gun purchase form is a felony. Rapper Kodak Black was sentenced to three years in federal prison in Florida in 2019 for falsifying information on federal forms to buy four guns at a Miami store.
In a written statement to the Washington Post on Thursday, Hunter Biden attorney Chris Clark accused investigators of leaking information from ongoing grand jury proceedings.
Delaware US Attorney David Weiss will make the final decision on whether to bring a case against Biden.
“It is a federal felony for a federal agent to leak information about a Grand Jury investigation such as this one,” Clark said. “Any agent you cite as a source in your article apparently has committed such a felony. We expect the Department of Justice will diligently investigate and prosecute such bad actors. As is proper and legally required, we believe the prosecutors in this case are diligently and thoroughly weighing not just evidence provided by agents, but also all the other witnesses in this case, including witnesses for the defense. That is the job of the prosecutors. They should not be pressured, rushed, or criticized for doing their job.”
Earlier this year, the grand jury heard from a witness who was asked to identify the “big guy” referenced in one of the first son’s business deals. A former Hunter business partner, Tony Bobulinski, has identified “the big guy” as Joe Biden.
“I have heard Joe Biden say he has never discussed his dealings with Hunter. That is false,” Bobulinski told reporters at a press conference prior to the second presidential debate between Biden and Donald Trump in 2020.
James Gilliar, another former business partner of Hunter Biden, referred to Joe Biden as “the Big Guy” in a message on Oct. 14, 2020, the same day The Post broke news of the laptop’s existence. Separately, it emerged earlier this week that Bobulinski’s 2020 interview with the FBI was interrupted by a phone call from Joe Biden’s brother, Jim Biden. The missed call came as Bobulinski was telling the feds that Biden, then a presidential candidate, stood to earn a 10% cut of Hunter and Jim’s lucrative joint venture with Chinese energy firm CEFC.
While Joe Biden has repeatedly insisted that he has “never spoken” with his son Hunter about “his overseas business dealings,” a survey of Biden’s activities while vice president suggests that was not the case.
In 2015, for example, Joe and Hunter Biden attended a DC dinner whose guest list included Russian billionaire Yelena Baturina and her husband, former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, according to records from a laptop that formerly belonged to Hunter Biden and were obtained by The Post.
All this could spell trouble for the White House, with Republicans vowing to aggressively pursue investigations of Joe Biden’s link to his family’s consulting businesses if they retake control of one or both chambers in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
Meanwhile, text messages uncovered from the laptop also indicated that Hunter frequently covered his family’s expenses — and gave as much as 50% of his earnings to his father. “I hope you all can do what I did and pay for everything for this entire family for 30 years,” Hunter raged to his daughter Naomi in January 2019. “It’s really hard. But don’t worry, unlike pop, I won’t make you give me half your salary.”
The laptop doesn’t contain any direct evidence of such money transfers, but shows Hunter was routinely on the hook for household expenses, including repairs to the elder Biden’s home in Wilmington, Del.
By: Samuel Chamberlain, Miranda Devine, Emily Crane ~ Oct 6th, 2022
[Link] nypost.com/2022/10/06/federal-agents-have-evidence-to-charge-hunter-biden-report/
–
“Biden Knew”: Hunter, James Biden Slapped With Criminal Referrals Over “Influence Peddling Schemes”
House Republicans have referred Hunter and James Biden to the DOJ for criminal prosecution, accusing the pair of making false statements to Congress amidst an ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden.
The criminal referrals, which were formalized on Monday, culminate from seven months of investigative work by three House committees. The probe alleges an extensive influence peddling operation involving the president’s family, linking millions of dollars in international business deals to potentially corrupt figures and entities, including those connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
By: Tyler Durden ~ Jun 05, 2024
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-knew-hunter-james-biden-slapped-criminal-referrals-over-influence-peddling-schemes
What’s to worry…hillary is still free…
Am old enough to remember when Joe Biden bragged about his crime bill
that had every crack user getting a mandatory five years in prison.
Saying that their houses and their bank accounts could be confiscated, their families ruined…
Am guessing that the ‘well-meaning old man with a faulty memory’
–who cannot be prosecuted for his own crimes because of it—
has forgotten about his insistence that crack users must serve time/ be punished.
Hunter Biden needs to do time……..it needn’t be a lot of time in a prison setting, but enough to feel real; enough to be the consequences he so sorely requires. Let’s not forget he managed to leave baggies of cocaine in the White House not all that long ago.
This morning, MSM mentioned how important Hallee Biden’s testimony will be today.
(A few days ago, I mentioned the avoidance/absence of MSM mentioning the private meeting Joe Biden just had with Hallee two or three days ago. …Wondering if they were discussing Hallee’s chocolate chip cookie recipe….)
You can paint this in all sorts of colors and legal opinions but remember this.
If you don’t take addicting drugs, then you won’t get addicted to them.
Sort of a truism in medicine. Many, even in medicine hate that thought but it is true in the VAST majority of cases. It is a choice. In 46 years of practice I have never seen someone addicted because of taking an opiate, synthetic or otherwise, 1 time. I have also never seen an individual become addicted because they were FORCED to take an addicting drug.
The only exception to this rule is the unfortunate individual who has a severe injury that requires long term reconstruction and multiple surgeries. And an ongoing medical illness like chronic pancreatitis that cause severe persistent pain and that can usually be alleviated by removing the pancreas and/or having a pancreas transplant.
If your doctor prescribes cannabis for pain or nausea, that likely says more about your doctor’s use of the drug than maybe your need for the drug.
Dr’s cause a great deal of addiction because they are or were complicit in reinforcing a no pain life. Life has pain. It warns you of problems that you need to deal with not run get something to make you oblivious. We are discovering that there is far less need for opiates medically than thought previously.
I have little sympathy for addicts except for those suffering from a persistent painful illness or injury. They blame all their shortcomings and irrational acts on their addiction but never seem to accept the thought that they put themselves there in the first place.
Also these addicts are the most accomplished liars that you will ever meet and can spin yarns that will convince even a severe skeptic . It’s what they do.
Thank goodness doctors never prescribe habit-forming pills
knowing they make more money for themselves every time they do.
Then others make money operating rehabs, and on and on…
GEB: you and MAGA media can spin this case all you want to, but a few salient facts cannot be denied: 1. Joe Biden COULD HAVE, but did not, pardon Hunter; that’s because, unlike Republicans and MAGA media, Biden is a patriot and respects the rule of law. 2. Joe Biden COULD HAVE, but didn’t, fire the Special Counsel holdover from the Trump administration. Think of the howling if Biden had done so–yet Republicans are fine with Trump’s threats to seek vengeance on all his perceived enemies, and to “jail” Hillary Clinton, Dr. Fauci and other perceived enemies. They’re fine with an AG who takes marching orders from a convicted felon and malignant narcissist hungry for power, especially the power to pardon himself for crimes against the United States–like stealing classified documents and starting an insurrection. 3. Three year old Hunter was in the car when his mother, Neilia, and 13 month old sister, Naomi, died a violent death when their car was broadsided by a truck; Hunter and Beau, age 4, were both seriously injured; 4. Hunter’s addiction problem went into high gear with the death of his brother, Beau; plus, he underwent a painful divorce; 5. Hunter has overcome his addiction. He paid his back taxes. He only had a gun for a total of 11 days. He didn’t shoot anyone. He didn’t steal from anyone to support his addiction. Hunter has been through a lot of personal trauma. It is well-known that people turn to addictive substances like alcohol and drugs to cope with stress they cannot otherwise cope with. Addiction is not a moral failing—it is a health problem.
MAGA media keeps pushing the theme that Hunter is some kind of degenerate that his family should reject and forget about. They use Hunter’s problems for political gain, even though Hunter is not running for office and is not even an “advisor” to his father. They trade on his personal problems to score political points–Turley included, which is shameful and ignorant. Hunter has turned his life around and overcome addiction. He has a loving, supportive wife now. Any other first-time offender would have been given a plea deal that didn’t have the strings attached that were present in Hunter’s plea deal:
According to “Vox”–dateline 8/17/23:
“Hunter’s lawyers have insisted that they believed he was being offered broad immunity and that they have “contemporaneous written and oral communications” from prosecutors to back that interpretation up. They say they were surprised when, at the hearing, prosecutors said they were actually only offering much more limited protection.
Lowell said on Face the Nation that there were only three explanations for the purported turnabout. Number one is essentially incompetence: Prosecutors didn’t understand the implications of what they were promising. Number two is malfeasance: Prosecutors knew all along they were offering something more limited, but misled Hunter’s attorneys about what they meant. Number three is flip-flopping: Prosecutors initially made the broad promise, but reneged after political backlash from Republicans.”
If there is jury nullification in this case, it will be because the jury doesn’t believe it is fair or just to convict Hunter under the circumstances. The jury could also choose to disbelieve the prosecution’s case–Turley’s spin on the evidence notwithstanding.
Gigi-mine is not spin, it’s the fact of study and experience over 4 decades. What’s your experience in educational foundation, treatment and work with addicts.
See my explanation yesterday as to why Gigi seems to believe she is an expert on everything.
Hint….she reads Vox
“According to “Vox”–“
Gigi has no shame. After being humiliated several times for references to false Vox statements, she goes back there again.
Explain the 12th amendment, gigi
What was the interest rate when trump left office gigi?
Will the insanity defense run in the family?
What a defense… poor little ole me, a Yale Law Graduate, just didn’t understand the rules and laws.
Just another example of the two tiered justice system.
“. . . how absurd the actual defense is in the case.” (JT)
Add to that, the Left’s absurdity of: The Trump prosecution. It’s “successful” withdrawal from Afghanistan. Its denials of, and ever-changing rationalizations for, inflation. Its bizarre, contradictory border policies. Its use of language as a tool of deception (“gender-affirming care”). Its manipulative attempts to substitute its feelings for reality (“Biden is vigorous”). Its use of scare tactics and concocting new words to control you (“threat to democracy,” “disinformation”). Its willful altering of historical facts (America is “systemically racist”).
Behold the Left’s universe: The Absurd. It learned that ideology from Europe’s existentialists (e.g., Sartre, Camus), which was imported into the American universities the Left attended and worships.
That Absurdist ideology holds that: Reality is senseless. Man is irrational. Life is meaningless. Words are merely tools of manipulation.
A national election is about policies, not basic ideology. But that one should be voted out of office.
Sam,
If you get a chance, check out this from The Free Press. Estovir recommended it to me yesterday.
https://www.thefp.com/p/ayaan-hirsi-ali-we-have-been-subverted
UF:
Thanks for the heads up.
She does a good job of explaining some of the specific problems plaguing the West. Her courageous escape from Somalia and her unrelenting critiques of Islam are laudable.
However, she does a poor job of explaining the West’s essential ideas — which are reason and individualism, not faith and family.
“ The defense is not asking the jury to consider the evidence. It is asking the jury to ignore it.”
The defense is asking showing the jury that there is reasonable doubt. When FBI agent Erika Jensen was on the stand. She admitted under cross that she did not know much about cybersecurity or that the contents of the laptop were the originals when they received it from the repair shop.
There is also doubt about the filling out of the forms. Because the original has two different styles of handwriting and two different ink colors. Gun shops don’t always stick to the rules as evidence I provided yesterday shows. The ATF’s enforcement of the rules is tiny compared to the number of shops and 4473 forms filed. Then there’s Trey Gowyd’s admission that nobody has been prosecuted for only being a drug addict purchasing a gun.
Hunter Biden may have used drugs the next day after purchasing the gun. But, the prosecution did not show he was using anything on the day of the sale implying he was sober. The salesman never said or noticed hunter being under the influence. I’ve made this point before. Since the 5th circuit ruled that merely being a drug addict does not prohibit anyone from exercising their right to bear arms. They ruled that the statute 18. 922 which the question is based on the form is unconstitutional under the new Bruen standard set by the Supreme Court. Hunter Biden could legally purchase the firearm, even if he was still a drug addict. That makes the crime of lying on the form irrelevant.
The defense does not have to fully convince the jury of all the facts. All they have to do is present evidence of reasonable doubt to one juror. The reason why the professor implies Hunter may get acquitted is not because it’s Wilmington Delaware. It’s because there’s a lot to doubt about the evidence presented by the prosecution.
Trump committed his crimes in Manhattan, his home for 50 years. He literally had home field advantage. It was because of his persona and behavior over the years soured on the citizens of Manhattan that shrunk that advantage significantly and there’s the fact that Trump switched from Republican to democrat like a windsock over the years
Here’s what Trump said to Wolf Blitzer during a 2004 interview on CNN,
“ In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat”, explaining: “It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldn’t be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats…But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we’ve had some pretty bad disaster under the Republicans.”
Trump was a democrat several times, an independent, and a republican. So just because the Jury was “comprised of democrats” and it was unfair people easily forget that he was also a democrat when he lived in Manhattan. He was indeed judged by a jury of his peers.
“But, the prosecution did not show he was using anything on the day of the sale implying he was sober.” The form does not ask whether he is sober at the moment he signs the form. That would make the question meaningless.
Edwardmahl,
ATF 4473 21f states, “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
The prosecution clearly showed Biden was an unlawful user and addict by Biden’s own words in his book, testimony from witnesses, text messages.
If he just so happened to have not smoked crack, snorted something is irrelevant.
Edit,
“If he just so happened to have not smoked crack, snorted something that day is irrelevant.”
Upstatefarmer,
The problem is being an addict is not a crime. Being high is not a crime either. He was sober and well aware of what he was doing according to the salesman. That he was an addict would not preclude him from purchasing a gun according to recent rulings by the Supreme Court and the 5th circuit.
Keep in mind that alcohol IS a depressant and alcoholism is an addiction.
“ Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana OR, ANY DEPRESSANT, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?”
It means any alcoholic legally cannot buy a gun. How many alcoholics do you think check the “No” box on that form?
The sales man will be continued to be questioned today by the defense today. We will see how that goes.
We know that he was high. After all, he said himself he was a brilliant attorney and Joe said “he is the smartest person i know”.
No brilliant attorney would attempt to buy a gun illegally while sober. Especially one as smart as Hunter.
Some people dont understand the difference between reasonable doubt, planted doubt, and suspension of all logic doubt.
Waters,
“ We know that he was high.”
Not when he was buying the gun. That’s what the prosecution has not been able to prove. If he is convicted this issue can be used to reverse on appeal because he is being accused of illegally buying a gun because he’s a drug addict. We already know the 5th circuit ruled this is an unconstitutional infringement on Hunter’s 2nd amendment rights.
Any sort of doubt can change a juror’s mind and that’s the point. It takes only one juror having doubt to have an acquittal or a hung jury.
The prosecution is relying on Hunter’s book which he wrote while still being an addict. Who is to say his recollections are about the times he’s was using accurate. Or when he was in rehab. There’s plenty there to sow doubt.
“Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana, or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? Warning: the use or possession of marijuana remains in lawful under federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medical or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.”
This is a question that has already been ruled as unconstitutional by the 5th circuit and basically nullified by the Bruen ruling. Historically being addict or drug user has not been cause to deny a gun to anyone unless there is a more serious charge accompanying it. You can be sober at the time of purchase and still be considered under the law to be a lawful. Just as you can be an alcoholic and drive a car when you’re sober. The moment you are under the influence and drive or wield a weapon it becomes a crime.
Being an addict is not enough to prevent someone from purchasing a gun according to the courts. Just as being an alcoholic is not a prohibition on purchasing a gun despite the fact that alcohol is a depressant and an addiction.
The salesman did not claim Hunter was high or intoxicated at the time of the purchase. He noted he was fully aware of what he as doing meaning he was sober.
It will be the defense team’s job to sow reasonable doubt about the government’s claims and there are plenty of reasons to doubt the government does not have an airtight case against Hunter Biden.
If his name was not Hunter Biden this case would never see the inside of a court room or a prosecution. The only reason he’s in court is because he is Hunter Biden.
George, stop pretending you care about ‘the law, justice, etc.’
You’re just here to cover for and make excuses for the Dems,
twisting yourself into knots of partisan dishonesty/hypocrisy.
Waters,
I’m here posing legitimate reasons for doubting the prosecution’s arguments. They don’t have an airtight case. This is why Weiss did not want to go ahead with prosecution in the first place.
A) I’m not ‘Waters’
B) Posting about it once would be having ‘doubts’
C) Going on and on about it must mean you’re getting paid to do so?
D) Or you drank the blue kool-aid and just can’t help yourself.
E) If there were a box to check asking if you have TDS, would you lie and say ‘No’?
F) Poor ‘George’. Running cover for the criminals who are undermining what he says he believes in.
“I’m here posing”
Truer words were never spoken
His argument is that Hunter was too stupid to understand what the form meant.
He also doesnt know what hunter meant when he texted Halie, “i will never recover from this”
I wont go back over every bit of the nonsense that Svelaz just regurgitated from yesterday, despite being schooled on every single lie. suffice it to say that after that debacle, anyone who responds further to him today should have their head examined. You may as well be talking to a nerf ball.
A nerf ball is more useful, has more common sense, and displays logic and reasoning.
You were not schooling anyone. All you offered were insults and denigration. You offered nothing of substance.
“You offered nothing of substance.”
New George, plenty of substance is on the blog and elsewhere. You base all your arguments on the fact that doubt exists whenever there are two opinions, even when one opinion is a lie. That is your nature. Despite its apparent logical fallacy, this reliance on doubt is a testament to your lack of understanding and makes you the blog fool.
If Hunter is on trial, he is innocent no matter the evidence because you believe doubt was created about his innocence. If Trump is on trial, you believe him guilty because you believe doubt was created about his innocence.
You don’t care about the truth, even in rare cases where you know the truth. You are not to be trusted or listened to. Your rhetoric belongs deep in the garbage.
S. Meyer,
Well said!
And you just owned him!
Like the other anonimorons, I just scroll past.
Upstate: “Like the other anonimorons, I just scroll past.”
Yes, you’d skip some stupid comments.
You’d also miss some good ones.
There are people here using screen names that are
much less worth reading than some of the ‘anonymous’.
Some of the ones you may have skipped might even deserve a ‘Well Said!’
Victimless crime, both…ergo, unjust law.
Jury Nullification for Hunter Biden. Trump should’ve gotten the benefit of it too. “If the law is shit you must acquit.”
Shame shame shame shame
I wish Turley would discuss Jury Nullification more—a common-law topic after my own heart and one I have studied extensively, and am wholeheartedly in favor of, where appropriate (Per my motto when I ran for Wayne County Prosecutor in 2012 and 2016, “If the law is shit, you must acquit!”).
Yes, it’s obvious he broke the law. All the boxes are checked (literally, on the gun-purchase form!). All he has left is a Jury Nullification prayer…
It would be sort of a desecration of that storied, noble institution of our legal system’s “grassroots check-and-balance” bulwark against tyranny and government overreach: The same Jury Nullification tool in the hand of Northern antebellum jurors who refused to convict harborers of escaped slaves for violating the Fugitive Slave Act. Or utilized by jurors following their consciences in acquitting draft-dodgers during the Vietnam War. Or people on trial for recreational drug use. Or the case that started it all: the jury in 1670 England that refused to convict William Penn of unlawful religious assembly (the OG of Jury Nullification—the case that established its legitimacy, and the raison d’etre for the right of trial by jury).
Still, JN does apply here, as it does wherever there is a “victimless crime,” or in the eyes of any juror, an unjust or immoral law, or simply because this one, solitary defendant before them will be punished, in their estimation, in an unduly harsh manner.
LONG LIVE JURY NULLIFICATION—POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
Suijurisblog – That’s also why O J Simpson, double murderer, got off scot-free.
Fair point, but did it have anything to do with the LAPD trying to frame a guilty man?
Sui does make the point that he only wishes to apply it to “victimless crimes” and “shit laws”.
What he fails to reconcile is how one imbecile on a jury is supposed to be trusted with that determination. Look at some of the commenters here. Would you trust them to make that decision??? Would you gladly give them that power??
I think it was Blackstone (and maybe Thomas Jefferson too) who observed: “the law holds that it is better that 10 guilty persons escape, than that 1 innocent suffer (innocent person be convicted).”
Also, OJ was a unanimous verdict.
Not at all. Jury Nullification involves the informal nullification of “bad law.”; No one on the Simpson jury felt murder is “bad law” requiring this defendant (Simpson) to go free, or felt he did it but that the penalty for murder is just too gosh darn severe; They questioned his actual guilt, by dint of a questionable chain of evidence, unreliable testimony and suspicious actions of the police in trying to make a “guaranteed case” even more guaranteed.
Do you think drug addicts buying guns illegally is a victimless crime? How about listing a payment to your lawyer as “legal expenses”?
Both are victimless crimes, and deserving of Jury Nullification.
“[g]overnment overreach”? It is his dad’s DOJ for god’s sake!
First more importantly Hand Salute to all the living Greatest Generation men and women. Those living can look back with great pride for your patriotism and strength. Sadly young Americans today are wasting the sacrifices you gave and politicians are corrupting the government you saved. May God Bless you all on this day of days.
OK so Hunter broke the law just like many Americans have in the past, now treat him like any other American and move on. Move on to how he, his uncle and father have obtained the money from foreign governments and what it cost Americans. Hunter’s trials and tribulations are just a diversion at this point.
It seems unfair someone could have their laptop stolen from them after bringing it into a repair shop and the FBI can troll through the photos looking for evidence of crimes.
🤫 I believe that’s the most common sentiment of pedophiles everywhere. So you have that going for you.
It wasn’t stolen. It was abandoned because he refused (or forgot) to pay the repairman. People forget what they did when they are drunk or high.
Guesty ; “Stolen”? He abandoned it, and then refused to expressly say it was his laptop. His father and the intelligence agency liars said it was Russian disinformation. By refusing to admit that it was his property he allowed his father and the Democrats to mislead the American peopleduring an election campaign and also revived the hoax of Russian interference in our Presidential elections..
You are clearly uninformed. No one “stole” the laptop. He surrendered it for repair, signed a document stating if it wasn’t picked up within a specified period of time, it would become the property of the store owner.
I suppose giesty never got the word.
It’s not Hunters laptop.
It was abandoned, not stolen. Plus, last I knew, he hadn’t admitted that it was even his for sure. He can’t have it both ways.
With millions of Americans having had someone close to them addicted to drugs, suffering the consequences but not afforded the luxury of a well-connected family, this defense will only serve to further turn the country against the Bidens. They might save Hunter in the short term, but the long term damage to the brand will be complete.
So, the laptop and it’s contents are confirmed to be Hunter Biden’s and the FBI confirmed there is no evidence it was tampered with. Alrighty then. That right there will never be nullified.
The FBI did not confirm the no evidence it was tampered with. The FBI agent on the stand was not a cybersecurity expert. She did not know if the data on the laptop when the FBI received it was original. She admitted under cross that she did not do any analysis on the laptop to confirm if it was tampered.
“ Q. I’m asking whatever that person got on the 12th, was the way it was originally put, do you know? Did you do an analysis? Did you find out whether any of the files had been tampered with, added to, or subtracted?
A. I did not.”
OLLY,
It has been long established the laptop was Hunters and it confirmed it had not been tampered with.
Now it is court record.
No, it has not been confirmed that it was not tampered with. The FBI agent testified that she did not do any analysis on the laptop to confirm the data was not tampered.
That particular agent testified that she personally did not analyze the laptop. Does that mean that nobody in the FBI analyzed it? I’m not following the trial, but I find that entirely doubtful.
TIN,
The prosecution is using data from the laptop extracted directly by a FBI forensic specialist in 2019.
The prosecution is also using data directly from Hunter Biden’s iCloud account.
In George’s mind, it means whatever Vox tells him it means.
Got that right …
Tin, what matters is that it’s what is said in court. The FBI agent is there to lend support to the allegation the prosecution is making. The defense seems to have successfully questioned the validity of her ‘expertise’ about what she really knows about the laptop.
I thought the laptop was backed up on Hunters ICloud account?
Upstate, like confirming a planet is orbiting a distant star by a wobble, Biden’s FBI has confirmed it is Hunter’s untampered laptop, by its notable ommission of evidence proving an alternative theory.
Prosecutors just admitted in court that they do not have access to all of Hunter Biden’s laptop hard drive. So how would they know it has not been tampered with?