A Jury Has Been Selected for the Hunter Biden Gun Trial

AP Photo/Matt Slocum

Today was day one of Hunter Biden's criminal gun trial and things seem to be moving at a fairly swift pace. He was joined in court today by Jill Biden:

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Ashley Biden, Hunter's half-sister, was also present. Kevin Morris, the friend who has been paying all of Hunter's legal bills, was there along with Hunter's wife.

The entire day was devoted to jury selection. NBC News has done a really good job breaking down the questions that were asked of every potential juror. Combined with the list of the 12 jurors who were seated today, we can get an idea of everyone who will be deciding the outcome of this trial:

  1. Juror 3 "said her sister has a history with drug addiction and was convicted in Delaware for credit card fraud and drug charges about 10 years ago, but is 'currently clean.'"
  2. Juror 5 "worked for the U.S. Secret Service in Washington, D.C."
  3. Juror 16 "had heard about the case in general on YouTube."
  4. Juror 19 "doesn’t think that people who smoke marijuana shouldn’t be allowed to own guns."
  5. Juror 20 "received a DUI and pleaded guilty."
  6. Juror 26 "owns several firearms and has owned more than six over his lifetime."
  7. Juror 31 is younger and said his father owned guns.
  8. Juror 33 said "his father was killed in a gun crime in 2004."
  9. Juror 34 was described as a non-white woman who owns a gun.
  10. Juror 37 said his "brother and brother-in-law who were alcoholics." Both are dead.
  11. Juror 38 said "her childhood best friend died of a heroin overdose"
  12. Juror 39 "had an older brother who was addicted to PCP and heroin" however he apparently doesn't talk to the brother much.
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There are also four alternate jurors including one who wants more strict controls of gun ownership and one who had previously donated to Barack Obama. The judge in the case, who has repeatedly refused to delay the trial, seemed to be moving things along.

Judge Noreika, an appointee of President Donald J. Trump, tightly controlled her courtroom on Monday, much as she did during the hearing that ended Mr. Biden’s plea agreement last July, and showed every indication of wanting to move things along as quickly as possible.

She swatted down Mr. Lowell’s attempt to disqualify two potential jurors — hours after delivering two small but significant setbacks to Mr. Biden’s defense.

She has also ruled that Mr. Biden’s lawyers cannot refer to the fact that the local authorities declined to prosecute him when the gun was recovered. She also blocked Mr. Weiss from making any reference to the tax case when presenting evidence in Delaware...

...when the judge called for the midday break, [Hunter] sprang from his seat like a student hearing the end-of-day bell, flashed a grin and began fist-bumping and hugging the people who had shown up to support him.

Hovering in the background of all of this was President Trump, whose recent conviction came up a few times directly but also indirectly as all the jurors were asked if they believed some prosecutions were pursued for political reasons.

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So with that out of the way we'll be moving on to opening arguments Tuesday. Also tomorrow the prosecution is expected to call FBI Special Agent Erica Jensen as their first witness in the case. The entire case is expected to last about two weeks.

Finally, the Washington Post published a story yesterday detailing how this case came about. It's not a pretty story.

Hallie Biden awoke on an October morning in 2018 after Hunter Biden, the brother of her deceased husband, Beau, had spent the night. While he slept, she dropped her two kids off at school and then returned to rummage through the truck he had parked outside, anxious as to what the admitted drug addict might be hiding.

When she found a newly purchased Colt Cobra .38 handgun, she was hit by a wave of anger and fear. She put the gun in a shopping bag and drove a few miles to a high-end grocery store, where she tossed it into a trash can. That set off a chain of events that would trigger a flurry of frantic text messages, launch another dark chapter in a doomed and difficult romance — and lead to Hunter Biden’s federal trial beginning Monday.

When Hallie told Hunter, whose father at the time was contemplating a run for the presidency, how she had disposed of the gun, he erupted. “Are you insane,” he texted furiously, according to documents submitted by prosecutors. “Tell me now. this is no game. And you’re being totally irresponsible and unhinged.”

Eight seconds later, he wrote again: “Tell me now.”

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Hunter demanded she retrieve the gun and she tried to do so. When she couldn't find it in the trash can where she had left it, she spoke to the store manager explaining the story. He apparently called police and Hunter was called down to the store to tell his side of the story. He apparently suggested that a couple of "store workers might have taken the gun from the trash can, pointing to two Latino men in Janssen’s Market shirts and saying, 'Yea, prolly illegal.'" That's a nice touch. Apparently drug addiction also makes you casually racist.

Hunter also told the police he believed Hallie had tossed the gun out of fear he was going to kill himself. Later he lashed out at Hallie asking "Do you want me dead?"

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