George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Tuesday that Hunter Biden had “no defense” and should have pled guilty to federal gun charges.
Biden’s trial on three felony counts surrounding the purchase of a .38-caliber revolver began with jury selection Monday. Turley said that Biden had little hope to avoid a conviction on the charges based on text messages he sent around the time of the purchase discussing his use of drugs, including crack cocaine.
“There is no defense that I can see here,” Turley told Fox News host Martha MacCallum. “I mean, it’s akin to getting yourself locked in a bank vault and saying, ‘I got lost on my way to the restroom.’ You can say that, but very few people are going to buy that, and that sort of leads to the sort of question of why they didn’t just plead guilty.”
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“If he pleads guilty there’s a good chance he wouldn’t get jail time and increases that likelihood, and instead he’ll go through a very embarrassing trial without any real defense. I mean, they’ve also suggested that perhaps he wasn’t the one who checked the box. While you’re going to have the gun dealer – dealership owner, who stood there, who’s going to describe him doing that.”
Biden was indicted in September on the felony gun charges of making false statements in purchasing the firearm and for illegally possessing a firearm while addicted to drugs. He pleaded not guilty during an October arraignment.
Turley said that attorneys for Biden may be trying to secure jury nullification.
“I think this is looking like a nullification strategy. Jury nullification is when you either explicitly or implicitly encourage injury to ignore the evidence and this is the place to do it. Wilmington is the Biden hometown,” Turley said. “This is the favorite son of the favorite son, and I think that there is a hope here that in combination with sympathy for the addiction and perhaps sympathy for the family, you can get a hung jury or even jury nullification because that is the only viable option I can see here.”
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“I mean, do you really think 12 people are going to say that a third person checked these boxes for Hunter Biden, or that he had the world’s smallest window of sobriety that can be reduced to a few hours?” Turley continued. “Of course no one is going to buy that. So you’re relying on something else. You’re giving them at least the appearance of a defense, but you’re really hoping for nullification.”
MacCallum then asked Turley if he had a problem with President Joe Biden commenting on the trial or First Lady Jill Biden attending the proceedings.
“I don’t have any problem with the father weighing in here for his son,” Turley said. “Having Jill Biden in the court, however, is a reminder to the jury that this is a Biden town and this is a Biden case and I think the prosecutors may be chafing at that.”
First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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