Hunter Biden seeks new trial after conviction in gun case

Hunter Biden, the president’s son, formally asked a court to grant him a new trial Tuesday, two weeks after a jury convicted him of felony gun charges.

A jury in Delaware found Biden guilty on June 11 of three federal gun charges related to a Colt Cobra 38 special revolver he had for 11 days in October 2018, while he was addicted to crack cocaine.

Attorneys for Biden argued that the court lacked jurisdiction over the case when his trial began earlier this month because of a procedural issue stemming from efforts in April and May to appeal the prosecution of the case. Biden claimed that the law he was charged under was unconstitutionally vague and violated his Second Amendment right to gun ownership, Reuters reported.

The first effort was dismissed by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on May 9 and the second on May 28, but the court “did not then and has not yet issued its mandate as to the orders dismissing either appeal,” Biden’s attorneys said. A mandate would have formally sent the case back to a lower court.

“Thus, when this Court empaneled the jury on June 3, 2024 and proceeded to trial, it was without jurisdiction to do so,” Biden’s lawyers said in a motion filed in federal court.

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who presided over Biden’s case, earlier said that she did not believe that appeals of her pre-trial rulings would “independently divest this Court of jurisdiction,” CNN reported.

Jurors found Biden guilty earlier this month of lying on a federal form about his addiction, making false representations to a firearms dealer and illegally having a revolver in his possession in October 2018.

He is expected to face sentencing later this year.

Biden has denied any wrongdoing and said he plans to appeal his conviction.

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