Hunter Biden found guilty on gun charges

A jury in the US state of Delaware on Tuesday found Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden, guilty on three firearms charges.

Hunter Biden was charged in federal court in Wilmington with three felony counts of possession of a weapon while under the influence of drugs, with the jury sitting for about three hours over two days before reaching his guilty verdict.

Hunter Biden did not testify during the week-long trial in Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

Hunter Biden's trial

The trial was the first to involve the son of a sitting president, and came as Joe Biden faces his re-election bid against rival Donald Trump in November.

Two of the charges carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, while the third carries a maximum sentence of five years. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he could be sentenced to more than a year in prison, but a judge could sentence him to more or less.

The gun possession charge was originally set to be dropped as part of a plea deal with private attorney David Weiss last year. Under the terms of the deal, Biden was to be sentenced to six months in prison for pleading guilty to the tax charges, while the gun charge could have been dropped in two years if Biden honored the terms of a so-called diversion agreement.

Gun possession charge

As part of the plea deal, which was ultimately rejected by U.S. District Judge Marilyn Noreika, Biden submitted a statement of facts in which he admitted he was “a user and addict of cocaine at the time.”

The court document, which jurors were barred from reading because it was part of the rejected plea agreement, also said that during the 11 days he had the gun, he “regularly purchased and used cocaine.”

The plea negotiations collapsed after Noreika refused, leading to an indictment on the gun possession charge in Delaware and another on the tax charges in California.