“It’s time to put an end to this very high burden,” Lowell said.
After prosecutors responded, Judge Maryellen Norieka completed her jury instructions. They began discussions but did not reach a decision and will continue on Tuesday morning.
Biden was hugged by his wife Melissa Cohen-Biden, his uncle James Biden and others. Sometimes the defendant would put his palms together on the table as he watched the jury and the prosecutors.
Here’s what you missed on Day 6 of Hunter Biden’s trial:
Closing statements
Assistant special counsel Leo Wise pointed to a swell of Biden confidants seated behind the defense table as he began his closing arguments, a crowd that included Biden’s friends and close family, including his wife Melissa and his mother. Melissa, Jill Biden and her sister Ashley all wore black.
“It’s not all evidence,” Wise said, pointing to three packed rows. “People sitting in the gallery are not proof.”
You may know them or have seen them react to something, he said, “but respectfully, none of that matters.”
Wise said he knew Hunter was a drug addict and bought the gun anyway, lying on a federal uniform to pass a background check.
“It’s plain and simple. These same laws apply to the defendant as they apply to anyone else,” Wise said. “What led to the three felony charges in this case was the defendant’s choice, not anyone else’s.”
In Lowell’s closing statement, he said jurors could not convict Biden based on innuendo and speculation, which he said were the basis of the government’s case, and returned to Biden’s memo.
“Reasonable doubt = not guilty,” read one of the slides Lowell presented during his testimony.
Lowell said jurors should carefully weigh testimony given witness immunity, and suggested Zoe Kestan or Hallie, both of whom gave devastating accounts of Biden’s drug addiction, could not be taken at face value.
“Whether or not their testimony is swayed by the government’s promise is up to you,” Lowell said.
He also slammed prosecutors’ “cruel” questioning of Biden’s daughter, Naomi, who, under cross-examination Friday, shared how he texted her at 2 a.m. to change cars or texted her during subsequent efforts. Reaching out to him went unanswered.
Prosecutors asked Naomi if she knew her father was dating someone called ‘Frankie’ during that time or sharing the code to access his bank account, but she told the court she did not remember.
If you suggest that Biden met with a dealer instead, “but you don’t present that person or any factual evidence that this exchange took place, and then you ask him if he used cocaine, that’s reasonable doubt,” Lowell said. “And extraordinarily cruel.”
Lowell took a punch back at the testimony of the seller who sold Biden’s gun, who told the court last week that he watched customers closely for signs of drug use or drinking and would have refused the sale if he had any doubts. .
After discussing the decision over the weekend, Biden chose not to testify in his own defense, which would have opened him up to potentially damaging cross-examination.
New text messages
FBI Special Agent Erika Jensen testified about previously unseen messages and location information from Hunter Biden’s cell phone. case
When Biden texted his sister-in-law and former romantic partner, Hallie Biden, to wait for a salesman named “Mookie” at 7-Eleven the day after buying the gun, it was because he was avoiding her. , offered a defense.
Prosecutors told Biden over the weekend that Naomi’s testimony was inconsistent with the new messages. and location data they revealed From Biden’s cell phoneincluding his father’s account of his arrival in New York To meet him in October 2018. one In an email to the defense late Sunday, prosecutors shared 42 text messages from Hunter and others, as well as video and other information showing conflicting evidence.
Some of the messages indicated that after Biden bought the gun, he planned to meet a man named “Junior” at a 7-Eleven, who at one point asked him, “Do you want the same?” he asked.
The judges took detailed notes.
In response, Lowell argued that a simpler explanation could have been when Biden texted Hallie “you’re awake” while waiting at a 7-Eleven in the early hours of the morning.
“You don’t know if it was for donuts or coffee?” he said.