WILMINGTON, Del, May 15, (AP): Hunter Biden's federal gun case will go to trial next month, a judge said Tuesday, denying a bid by lawyers for the president's son to delay the prosecution.
US District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected Hunter Biden's request to push the trial in Delaware until September, which the defense said was necessary to line up witnesses and go through evidence handed over by prosecutors. The judge said she believes "everyone can get done what needs to get done” by the trial's start date of June 3.
Later Tuesday, a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court said the tax case against him - which is scheduled to go to trial in California on June 20 - can also move forward. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a defense effort to throw out the case.
The two rulings mean Joe Biden's son could be headed to trial next month in two criminal cases on opposite coasts in midst of his father's reelection campaign.
In Delaware, Hunter Biden is accused of lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days. He has pleaded not guilty and acknowledged struggling with an addiction to crack cocaine during that period in 2018, but his lawyers have said he didn’t break the law.
Special Counsel David Weiss' team plans to show jurors in the gun case portions of his 2021 memoir, "Beautiful Things,” in which he detailed his struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse following the 2015 death of his older brother, Beau, who succumbed to brain cancer at age 46, according to court papers filed Tuesday. Hunter Biden has said he has been sober since 2019.