Jury selected for Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial in Delaware

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• Amna Nawaz:

  For the first time in U.S. history, the child of a sitting president is on trial.

  President Biden's son Hunter Biden is facing federal charges related to his purchase and possession of a gun. Separately, Hunter Biden faces several charges that he allegedly dodged more than $1.4 million in taxes.

  The president did not attend court, where jury selection began today, but he did issue this statement, saying: "I am the president, but I'm also a dad. Jill and I love our son, and we're so proud of the man he is today. Hunter's resilience in the face of adversity and the strength he's brought to his recovery are inspiring to us. "

  NPR justice correspondent Ryan Lucas was in the Wilmington, Delaware, courtroom today, and he joins us now.

  Ryan, it's good to see you.

  So let's just remind folks about the charges here. Anyone using drugs or struggling with addiction is barred from buying or owning a gun. Hunter Biden denied that he was a — quote — "unlawful user or addict" on his application to buy a gun back in 2018, but he's been open about his addiction struggles at that time.

  So is this sort of an open-and-shut case?

• Ryan Lucas, Justice Correspondent, NPR:

  Well, certainly, the government thinks that it's an open-and-shut case.

  They say that Hunter Biden, when he went to purchase a gun in October of 2018, was addicted to crack cocaine and alcohol, and then he lied about that on standard background check forms that you have to fill out when you purchase a gun. So, in the government's perspective, this is very much an open-and-shut case.

  Now, Hunter's attorneys certainly feel that it is not an open-and-shut case. For them, they say that this is far more complicated. They say, have said in filings, at least, that Hunter had completed an 11-day rehab program around the time that this all went down. So they say that it is logical from his perspective that perhaps he didn't understand what a drug addict or drug user meant on that form and that he could think that he was not using drugs at that time.

  Judge Maryellen Noreika has kind of boxed that argument into a degree by saying that federal prosecutors do not need to prove that Hunter Biden was actively using drugs when he was purchasing the gun. But, again, this is very much something that's going to be up to the jury to decide based on the evidence that the government presents in the case.

• Amna Nawaz:

  So, as we mentioned, jury selection began and ended today. Tell us what we should know about that jury and what stood out to you about the selection process?

• Ryan Lucas:

  Well, the process moved very quickly. It was actually less than a full day, and the judge was able to impanel this jury of 12 jurors, four alternates.

  It is an even mix, six men, six women. It's a majority-Black jury. What was really interesting over the course of the jury selection process was, one, that several of the potential jurors said that Wilmington and Delaware generally is a small place. There were several folks who had known the Biden — the Biden family, whether it be Joe Biden, Jill Biden, or Hunter himself, or his late brother.

  And there was also the issue of a lot of potential jurors had family or friends who had struggled with addiction. There was one potential juror who said they had a friend who died of a heroin overdose. So this is — some of the issues that are very much central to this case are things that people in the community know and have experienced.

  That said, the judge and both sides were able to whittle this jury pool down. And all the jurors who ended up being impaneled were individuals who said that they could set aside their personal experiences, as well as their knowledge of the case, and judge it based on the facts and the evidence as they're presented in the courtroom.

• Amna Nawaz:

  So, Ryan, walk us through the timeline ahead now. What do we expect to happen next? And, also, what possible penalty could Hunter Biden face here, if convicted?

• Ryan Lucas:

  Well, we will have opening statements tomorrow morning from both sides.

  Then I believe that the government will call its first witness, which is expected to be an FBI agent who worked on this investigation into Hunter Biden. As for penalties, in theory, up to 25 years is the maximum sentence for Hunter Biden in this case. There are two charges that carry a maximum of 10 years and one charge that carries a five-year maximum sentence.

  That said, Hunter Biden has no known criminal history. He's a first-time offender. So that maximum sentence is most likely not what he would end up being seen. The sentencing guidelines would be much lower. And, ultimately, it's going to be up to the judge to decide, if he is convicted, what the sentence would be.

• Amna Nawaz:

  In 30 seconds or so I have left, do we expect Hunter Biden himself or any Biden to take the stand?

• Ryan Lucas:

  There's no word on whether Hunter Biden himself would testify, but prosecutors have said that they do expect to call Hunter Biden's ex-wife, Katherine (sic) Buhle, as well as Beau's widow, Hallie Biden, who Hunter Biden was involved with romantically at the time that this all went down in 2018.

  So this is a case that is going to dig up some dark parts of Hunter Biden's life, his struggles with addiction, and certainly how that affected the Biden family.

• Amna Nawaz:

  That is NPR's justice correspondent, Ryan Lucas, joining us from Delaware tonight.

  Ryan, thank you. Good to see you.

• Ryan Lucas:

  Thank you.