Hunter Biden Guilty Verdict: How Long Could First Son Be Sent To Prison?

[Music] hi everyone I'm Maggie McGrath with Forbes breaking news today Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony gun charges related to the purchase of a gun in 2018 here to explain more is John George Aris he is the founder of Aris Law Group John George thank you so much for joining us I want to start by asking are you surprised by today's verdict I don't think I'm surprised by today's verdict because the evidence in this case was fairly straightforward it was Hunter Biden having lied on an application to purchase an a firearm and then possessing that firearm afterwards the prosecution's case was pretty clean and pretty straightforward and the jury only took about 3 hours to deliberate which is usually a clear sign that the evidence was put in in a manner that made a lot of sense the defense to go for sort of an Omnibus approach um and really narrow what this case was about when it came down to the question on the gun application and whether Hunter Biden at that time was sober or not sober but it just it seems like the evidence was overwhelming I'm not surprised that on the three counts two of them being making false statements in the connection with purchasing a firearm and the third thereby illegally possessing the firearm afterward Ward that the jury came back with this conviction let's just break down these three convictions what exactly do they mean and what exactly are the convictions so the conviction the first one is making a false statement in regards to a question on an application um at whether or not at the time of the purchase of the firearm Hunter Biden was addicted or on any drugs at that time so that was the first two counts are connected they're both false statements in connection with purchasing the gun so it's the transaction record and then it's the false statement itself those are the first two and then the third is just simply then illegally possessing that firearm by virtue of having lied on this application and therefore obtaining it illegally um because at the time the testimony and the evidence came out of the case that Hunter Biden was suffering from a a drug addiction during that time now will Hunter Biden appeal these charges I believe this Council will we're in a very interesting territory with this case and the charges in this case are not I wouldn't say they're very typical um I would say that they're they're somewhat unique that this case was brought and went down this road leading to this conviction but underlying all of this is a second amendment issue and whether the Second Amendment uh the right to bear arms can be invoked in this situation and the argument one of the arguments or I should say the main argument is that an individual that is potentially suffering from a drug addiction may still be able to invoke the Second Amendment and say this is disperate and unequal treatment of me a potential drug addict and I should still be allowed to purchase a firearm so it it is setting up an appeal the Supreme Court court has not heard this issue and I believe this case will will proceed forward and I believe that Hunter Biden's Council will go down that road and it's very possible this could end up at some point before The Supreme Court so just to emphasize what you just said Hunter Biden could appeal using the Second Amendment and that appeal could go all the way to the Supreme Court that's correct yeah this is an an issue that has not been decided by the Supreme Court something to compare it to would be an individual that may be suffering from mental illness right can they invoke the Second Amendment to purchase a firearm it's somewhat in the same world and there's arguments to be made that the second amendment has its strengths and this could lead to a point that strengthens gun laws provided what the Supreme Court comes down ultimately with with their decision uh regarding the Second Amendment so yes this this could end up before The Supreme Court I mean it's interesting if you think about it someone who has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder they still have the right to the First Amendment free speech so you can kind of maybe start to see the the legal framework that could be used in a case at the Supreme Court the Constitution is strong the amendments are strong people have individual rights and Liberties and those are protected by the Constitution so the these are the foundation and you laid it out correctly it's the foundation for these types of arguments to proceed forward it's just politically interesting because what you're describing almost sounds like it sets up a situation for the son of a president to strengthen the Second Amendment when that President himself wants to tighten gun laws is that a fair summation of where we are politically I think broadly that's accurate the president has has been clear about wanting to tighten gun laws and to restrict certain rights to purchasing Firearms this case is a piece of that a portion of it that could add itself to strengthening gun laws or the liberty and the individual right to purchase a firearm so it it is an interesting J ju Theos that's been set up between the two I'm sure obviously on a personal level I'm sure that the president and the first lady are upset about this decision and I do think that there's a level of empathy that everyone can have for Hunter Biden having suffered through a drug addiction and being in this position um it's the president has the personal relationship but also politically it's it it is an issue in some regards that his son may be now pursuing an appeal that is in direct opposition to the policies of what the White House wants to put forward when it comes to gun rights now May appeal we we don't yet know what is the potential punishment here is he facing jail time yes now the federal sentencing guidelines are pretty high meaning that the amount of time that he can spend in jail I believe is up to 25 years so it's a lengthy period I think that that's unlikely that he would end up spending 25 years in prison what's going to end up happening is it's unlikely the judge would sentence him today in two to three months a sentencing hearing will be scheduled and there's a lot of work to do in between those time periods so in 2 to three months he's going to have to go through basically a sentencing interview they're going to have to provide a lot of information about his background it's all going to have to be gestated and put into a document and put before the judge for what then the judge will ultimately decide is the sentence the government will likely argue for a higher sentence and then obviously the defense will argue for a lower sentence and that'll be the tension between the the two but in that time period there's there'll be a lot of work to do leading up to that and I think it would happen in about two to three months if he is sent to prison what type of prison would Hunter Biden go to would it be one of those white collar uh institutions that we've seen Martha Stewart and others attend or what what's the situation he's facing well is a federal case so it would be federal prison and federal prisons are typically mixed when it comes to to the different crimes that go into it um so it it remains to be seen I'm not sure he would get some special White Glove treatment and go to a resort spa type of uh situation for prison um this is a gun crime so it's more likely that Hunter Biden would be in some type of federal prison at some point um but whether or not that's a nice one for lack of a better term or or a worse one I think remains to be now President Joe Biden has said that he would not pardon his own son here but what other legal options does he have is there anything else he could do to commute the term or otherwise lessen it the president has broad Powers when it comes to commuting a sentence or when it comes to pardoning someone I think politically it could be a major issue for President Biden to Pardon his son after an independent jury found him guilty of these crimes really in in President Biden's backyard right in Delaware so it's a strong statement from the jury they acted independently they came to a decision it'd be a lot for a president to go in and disturb a jury verdict which in the law is pretty sacred the idea that a jury came down to a decision after hearing the evidence and rendered its verdict we all have a right to a trial in front of a jury of peers that's what Hunter Biden received and now he's dealing with the consequences I don't imagine that President Biden will do anything to disturb this even though as the president he has fairly broad powers to if if he did want to I think it would look especially in light of everything that's going on with former president Trump I I think it would look bad and and it could cause him some political backlash so not in his political interest you know the other ramification question I had for you John George is in the United States and this can differ state by state but there are laws around felons voting in elections so can a convicted felon can Hunter Biden vote for his own father in the November election traditionally the laws have been pretty clear that felons can't vote in in the general election however on a state byst state basis there are exceptions that are propping up you know over time or there's ways if someone has been re rehabilitated or has made some showing or there's been a certain passage of time you know a lengthy period of time from when someone was convicted as a felon maybe there's a process for them to expunge their criminal record or or do something to get them that eligibility back over the years there's been more openness to having someone someone that may have been convicted as a felon come back and be able to vote but this is such a short period of time the conviction just happened we have a general election in November I think it's unlikely that he would be able to vote for his father in this election and I also think he's probably going to be more focused on other issues which are whether or not he's going to be going to jail whether or not he's going to have a successful appeal and Hunter Biden has another case in California related to uh tax fraud charges that is pending so I I don't think that it's going to be um at the at the top of his priority list and I think it's unlikely that he would be able to vote in this general election given this conviction I'm glad you mentioned the tax case he faces nine federal tax charges in California does today's verdict affect that case at all today's verdict doesn't affect that case but I think it's worth worthwhile to sort of look back at why we've ended up at this point where we had the gun case in Delaware and now we have the tax charges filed in California by way of background there was an agreement with the prosecutors that would have settled out these issues both the tax charge and the gun charges together the judge in Delaware rejected that agreement straight up because the judge in delaw said this seems to provide broad immunity for Hunter Biden not only for alleged pass crimes but potentially future crimes and you need to come to the prosecution and the defense needs to come to a more clear deal I'm not willing to rubber stamp this that moment galvanized a complete change for Hunter Biden's legal landscape he then faced the the gun charges in Delaware and then the tax charges were removed and separately filed in California so that's why we're here today the verdict doesn't their independent cases it it doesn't affect anything um it's just more trial and more potential jail time for Hunter Biden in California so today is effectively not the end of Hunter Biden's legal Saga is what you're saying it is not in many ways he obviously would have liked to get not guilty verdict and put this case to bed but now he needs to go through an appeal process he needs to work really hard on trying to get the lowest possible sentence that he can you know through his attorneys and then turn his attention to the tax case maybe this galvanizes him and his counsel to work with the prosecution in that case and try to come to a plea agreement there if he does think that jail time's gonna happen in the gun case then maybe he just figures try to find a way to wrap this matter all up at once it's so you know fresh and new right now that the attorneys are going to have to go back and really strategize and look at everything broadly before they go ahead and advise uh Hunter going forward we've covered a lot of ground but Sean George I want to ask is there anything else that you're looking at as an attorney with this case that the Forbes audience should know about I think the environment that we're in right now especially with the prosecution of uh former president Trump in New York and now we have the prosecution of Hunter Biden we're in a very people keep saying this over and over again we're in an unprecedented time we are it's a 2024 election where there's a lot of upheaval and serious criminal charges being brought against the former president and then people that are closely tied to the current president so I I just think think it's an interesting point to continue following however I don't really know and I don't really suspect that this is going to move many voters that in in any particular direction whether that's closer to former president Trump or closer to now current President Biden everyone seems to know the Dynamics that are at play and even in light of these convictions I think that people that are loyal to the former president or the current president will continue going down that road even as these legal cases keep unfolding step by stop better for worse John George arus thank you so much for sharing your Insight with us today we really appreciate it thank you Maggie I appreciate it

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Length: 15min 58sec (958 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 12 2024