Hunter Biden proposes to plead guilty to tax evasion charges

Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, proposed Thursday to change his plea to guilty in his tax evasion case, a trial he must face in the city of Los Angeles and whose jury selection was to begin Thursday.

It was his lawyer, Abbe Lowell, who announced that Hunter Biden, 54, had decided to change his testimony and face a possible conviction in what is the second criminal trial facing the president's son in the past three months.

The decision forced Judge Mark Scarsi to call a recess in the hearing with the intention of allowing prosecutors to discuss the offer that the defendant presented.

This is because, prosecutor Leo Wise explained to the judge, Hunter's change of heart is not the result of an agreement with the government. "This is the first we’ve heard of this," the lawyer said in statements reported by NBC News.

What Hunter would do, Lowell explained to the media, would be to file an Alford statement. This model, the Utah state court notes, "can be used when the defendant wishes to benefit from a plea deal, but is unable or unwilling to admit guilt." That is, he would formally admit guilt but maintain his innocence.

In this case, he could claim that although he did the crime, he was unaware of his actions having committed them while in the midst of drug addiction and after he had become sober.

This plea could be a quick fix to the Hunter trial since, Lowell detailed, "the court is required to accept the plea," and the details "can be resolved today."

In this way, Hunter Biden could avoid going through a public trial in which prosecutors had more than two dozen witnesses ready to prove the guilt of the president's son who was accused in December of three felonies and six misdemeanors where he was alleged to have failed to pay his taxes because of his drug problems.