Hunter Biden entered an open guilty plea in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday afternoon to nine charges brought against him in a federal indictment related to failure to pay income taxes and tax evasion. He will be sentenced on December 16 and faces up to 17 years in prison and over $1.3 million in fines.
Potential jurors had reported to the courthouse Thursday morning for jury selection, and testimony was anticipated to start on Monday, September 9. However, as proceedings began, Biden’s lead defense attorney, Abbe Lowell, informed the court that his client intended to enter an Alford plea, a type of plea in which he would not admit guilt but would agree that the government was going to present evidence that could lead a jury to find him guilty. After a two-hour break, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise told the court that prosecutors would not agree to any plea in which Biden did not admit guilt, while Lowell argued that the court had very little discretion in deciding to accept or not accept an Alford plea. U.S. District Court Judge Mark Scarsi told the parties his plan was to break until 9 AM Friday for the parties to brief that issue and proceed, but Lowell asked for time to confer with his client to see how he wanted to proceed.
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After meeting with Biden for 30 minutes, Lowell informed the Court that his client would enter a straight guilty plea instead of an Alford plea:
Your Honor has basically indicated that there is a need to satisfy the public interest. Mr. Biden also has to consider the private interest. This has been a difficult moment for him and for his family. There are more than a half a dozen members of his immediate family that the government intends to call….
So if the court believes that you have discretion to reject an Alford plea, we will go forward with an open plea.
Lowell argued that Biden had been attempting to resolve this case for over a year, and that the government was intent on “exacting not just a pound of flesh, but more than an ounce of blood” and had spent more than $3.5 million in that time frame to do so. Because of that, Lowell said, and after the evidentiary rulings handed down last week, Biden came to the conclusion that it’s in his best interest to enter an open guilty plea, “so he and his family can move forward from the things he did when he was a drug addict.”
Still, Biden would not be admitting that he did every act alleged in the indictment, Lowell said; Biden would, however, agree that he committed conduct that satisfied each of the elements of the crimes alleged.
Wise argued that Biden should be interested in taking accountability and responsibility for his actions to move forward, saying:
“We would like Mr. Biden to be asked [by the Court] if that’s true. ‘Is what the government just said true?’ Because it is the truth, and the truth matters.”
Wise also argued that it’s not because of the government’s actions Biden’s immediate family members would be called as witnesses in the case, but because of Hunter’s actions, then shot back at Lowell:
“We’re not the ones who decided to call his family…. So this idea that he’s a victim of this process and it’s the big, bad government that’s doing it to him is offensive….
“And the money we’ve been spending is because of the over-lawyering on the other side.
“We haven’t exacted a pound of flesh or a drop of blood….
“He was entitled to a trial today, and that’s what we would have given him. So if he chooses to not exercise that right, he should be forced to say that it’s true.”
After those arguments, Scarsi said:
“We’re going to take an open plea. I’m going to ask Mr. Biden if you’ve committed conduct that you believe satisfies each of the offenses as charged in the indictment.”
With that, Scarsi began the process of taking Biden’s guilty plea, a process that includes detailing the charges he’s pleading guilty to and the maximum punishment for each, ensuring that Biden understands what he is doing and the potential punishments, and that he’s gone over potential defenses with his attorneys and is satisfied with their services. Biden was informed that as a result of his plea, he is facing a maximum of 15 years in prison and a maximum fine between $500,000 and $1 million, and that since he was entering an open plea, he has no promise as to what that sentence will be.
That process also requires the government to state a factual basis for each charge. Wise had informed Lowell that if Biden pled guilty, Wise planned to read the entire indictment as the government’s factual basis, and followed through on that promise. Lowell objected and said they’d stipulate to the factual basis so the long document wouldn’t need to be read aloud, but Scarsi asked Wise to continue as a precaution to ensure there is appropriate transparency and sufficiency for the public interest.
After the indictment was read, Scarsi asked Biden:
“Do you agree that you committed every element of every crime charged in counts 1-9 of the indictment?”
Biden replied, “Yes.”
Scarsi then announced that he’d made an error in calculating the potential punishments initially and informed Biden that he was actually facing 17 years in prison and more than $1.35 million in fines.
Biden was then asked how he pled to each individual count and answered, “Guilty” to each one.
Scarsi accepted Biden’s plea and ordered it recorded. Sentencing is scheduled for December 16 in Los Angeles, and Biden will remain on bond with all bond conditions in place until that time.
