Last Updated on 06/09/2024 by Arun jain
Hunter Biden made a surprise plea on Thursday in a last-minute gamble shortly before the start of his trial on tax charges to avoid the ordeal and expense of a week of public airing of his past misdeeds.
Half an hour before jury selection was to begin, Mr. Biden’s lawyer in the case, Abe Lowell, entered the so-called. Alford is sufficientHe pleaded not guilty to the same charges, admitting there was enough evidence to convict him.
The maneuver, named after the Supreme Court decision, is commonly used to jump-start stalled plea negotiations, postpone proceedings or avoid a trial altogether by leapfrogging directly into the sentencing process.
It is unclear whether Judge Mark C. Scarci, the Trump appointee who is presiding over the case, will not accept the plea. He immediately adjourned the case for two hours to give prosecutors a chance to respond, but also indicated he was still set to interview 120 jurors before the end of the week.
“The court wants to stay out of plea discussions,” Judge Scarci said after prosecutors objected to the plea.
Lawyers representing the president’s son, Mr. Biden, believe that special counsel in the case, David C. Weiss has refused to engage in serious plea negotiations after being sharply criticized for signing a generous deal with Mr. Biden on gun and tax charges. Which would have resulted in no jail time.
That agreement erupted in July 2023 during a chaotic hearing at a federal courthouse in Wilmington, and Mr. Weiss subsequently accused Mr. Biden of lying on a firearms application in Delaware and a series of tax violations in California, where he now lives. .
The Justice Department sets a high bar for accepting Alford pleas. Its procedural guidelines mandate that they be rejected “except in the most unusual circumstances” — and then only after being approved by senior department leaders.
If the court rejects the Alford plea, Mr. Biden’s lawyers will be at a crossroads: they can plead guilty to avoid a trial, or proceed with what promises to be a terrible and expensive public spectacle that could have the same negative outcome. .
People close to Mr. Biden say he is desperately seeking a way to avoid dragging his family through the humiliation of another trial three months after he was convicted on gun charges in Delaware. He added that he was particularly concerned about the possibility that his daughters Naomi and Macy would be called to testify.
He is accused of evading tax assessments, filing and failing to file taxes, and filing false or fraudulent tax returns.
The trial on tax charges in Los Angeles turned into a political consideration the moment President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race in July. But the personal stakes for her son, who is facing the prospect of prison time, have never been higher.
House Republicans once saw Mr. Biden’s legal troubles as a key element in their plan to undermine his father’s standing with voters. But their exhaustive efforts to prove that the son and father conspired to form the “Biden crime family” never materialized, and prosecutors have made it clear that the California case will not include evidence of official wrongdoing when President Biden was vice president.
In recent weeks, Hunter Biden’s team has been in regular talks with Mr. Weiss’ team on procedural matters, but there have been no signs that the two sides are close to a plea agreement.
Mr. Biden already faces a maximum sentence of 25 years on the gun conviction, though his sentence is likely to be much less as a first-time offender who has been clean and sober for several years. Mr. Biden faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted of evading federal taxes on millions in income from foreign businesses while addicted to drugs and alcohol.
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