(RepublicanJournal.org) – Hunter Biden is guilty of three federal gun charges, and the president has said he’s going to respect the verdict and won’t pardon his son. Hunter’s legal team doesn’t seem to have gotten the message yet, though. They submitted a long-shot request for a new trial — then pulled it again within minutes.
On June 11, Hunter Biden was convicted of three charges linked to lying about his drug addiction while buying a gun. President Biden could pardon him once he’s sentenced, but the president has already ruled that out. That means, to avoid punishment for his crimes, Hunter has to rely on an appeal succeeding. It seems his lawyers aren’t confident, though, because they’re already resorting to desperate measures.
On June 17, Hunter’s legal team filed a motion requesting a new trial. They argued that his conviction resulted from a mistrial because Judge Maryellen Noreika didn’t have jurisdiction over the case. This goes back to Noreika’s earlier refusal to dismiss the charges against Hunter — including a bizarre claim by his lawyers that not letting him lie on federal paperwork and then buy a gun while high on crack violated his Second Amendment rights.
Noreika’s ruling on that was upheld by a three-judge panel from the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, but Hunter’s lawyers applied for that to be reconsidered by the full appeals court. In their request for a new trial they argued that, because this didn’t happen, Noreika had no authority to impanel a jury and go ahead with the trial.
Therefore, they said, the verdict was invalid and Hunter should get a new trial. It looks like they planned to invalidate the first trial, and then hope the Third Circuit would dismiss the charges before a new one could begin.
If you have doubts about how sensible a plan this is, it seems Hunter’s legal team shares them. The court docket shows that just minutes after filing the motion, they pulled it again. This doesn’t look like a confident move.
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