A panel of judges dismissed Hunter Biden’s appeal in his gun charges case on Thursday.
The panel was from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, which includes Judge Cindy Chung, who was appointed by President Joe Biden.
Hunter Biden, who is the president’s only living son, was indicted in September 2023 in Delaware on three felony counts relating to a gun purchase in 2018 where he allegedly lied about his drug use. Hunter has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In April, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected several motions filed by Hunter’s lawyers in an effort to throw out the case.
Some of the failed arguments made included attacks on the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Special Counsel David Weiss, a Donald Trump-nominated U.S. attorney who is prosecuting the case, claiming that the Democratic president’s son was being subjected to selective prosecution at the behest of Republicans, and claiming that a previous plea deal that fell apart still holds.
Judge Chung, along with Judge Patty Shwartz, who was appointed by Barack Obama and Judge D. Brooks Smith, who was appointed by George W. Bush, wrote in Thursday’s ruling that Hunter “has not shown the District Court’s orders are appealable before final judgment.”
Hunter Biden speaks at the World Food Program USA’s Annual McGovern-Dole Leadership Award Ceremony at Organization of American States on April 12, 2016, in Washington, D.C. A panel of appellate judges, which includes Judge Cindy… Hunter Biden speaks at the World Food Program USA’s Annual McGovern-Dole Leadership Award Ceremony at Organization of American States on April 12, 2016, in Washington, D.C. A panel of appellate judges, which includes Judge Cindy Chung, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, dismissed Hunter Biden’s appeal in his gun charges case on Thursday.
Paul Morigi/Getty Images for World Food Program USA
With this order, Hunter’s trial scheduled for June 3 in Wilmington, Delaware, will continue as planned. June’s trial will be the first of its kind as no other child of a sitting president has been put on trial.
However, Hunter’s lawyer Abbe Lowell has vowed to continue to try to stop this trial from happening.
“In reviewing the panel’s decision, we believe the issues involved are too important and further review of our request is appropriate,” Lowell said in a statement.
Newsweek reached out to Lowell via email for further comment.
Hunter faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison if found guilty of the gun charges.
However, Dave Aronberg, Democratic state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, told Newsweek via email on Thursday: “There’s no way that Hunter Biden will get anywhere near the maximum penalty for this crime. He has no prior rap sheet and is being prosecuted under a statute that is rarely used and questionable in its constitutionality.”
Meanwhile, the president’s son also faces nine tax charges with a maximum penalty of 17 years in prison in a case brought on by the DOJ. Hunter was indicted in California in December 2023 on three felony counts of tax evasion and filing a false return and six misdemeanor counts of failure to return.
Hunter’s tax charges trial is set to begin on June 20 after U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi denied all eight motions that Hunter’s legal team submitted in an effort to dismiss the case.
In a statement following Scarsi’s April ruling, Lowell said: “We strongly disagree with the Court’s decision and will continue to vigorously pursue Mr. Biden’s challenges to the abnormal way the Special Counsel [Weiss] handled this investigation and charged this case.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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