Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to illegal possession of weapons

One of Hunter Biden's lawyers, Abbe Lowell, revealed that his client will plead not guilty to the three criminal charges that accuse him of having lied and stated that he was not using drugs when he bought a gun. The document has already been presented before Judge Christopher Burke, of the federal court of the state of Delaware, where the investigation is taking place.

The lawyer asked the judge that the arraignment hearing be held virtually. In the same document, he announced that Hunter Biden plans to plead innocent. "Mr. Biden will plead not guilty, and there is no reason why you can't say those two words during a video conference," he wrote. If this is the case, the trial would take place in 2024, the year in which the president will seek a second term in the White House.

The charges against Hunter Biden

The prosecutor in the case, David Weiss, managed to get a grand jury to indict Hunter Biden on three charges related to the illegal purchase and possession of weapons. In total, they amount to 25 years in prison, although the sentences are usually lighter for those who do not have a criminal record.

According to the accusations, the president's son lied when he claimed that he was not using drugs when he bought a .38-caliber Colt Cobra pistol. One piece of evidence against him involves a statement he completed when he purchased the gun, in which he signed that he was "not an illegal user or addict of marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic or any other controlled substance."

However, according to prosecutor Weiss, Biden knew that "that statement was false and fictitious," and, even so, he handed it over to the gun seller in order to purchase it. The accusation was formalized in mid-September.

Each of the charges appears to be a step in the purchasing process. The first accuses him of lying on the ATF form when he bought the gun, the second claims that he lied to the gun dealer where he bought the gun (again related to the form) and the third accuses him of illegal possession while using drugs or while maintaining an addiction, which constitutes a federal crime.