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President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden has requested a new trial following his conviction on three felony gun counts two weeks ago.
In court papers filed Monday, Biden’s attorneys argued that his convictions should be vacated because the trial commenced before a circuit court formally issued a mandate denying his appeal — a technical argument disputing not the merits of the case, but a procedural claim. Court papers stated: “Here, no mandate was issued during the trial or even now. Consequently, the conviction must be vacated.” Attorneys for Biden also argued in a separate filing Monday that the Supreme Court’s decision this week in U.S. v. Rahimi, which upheld a longstanding federal ban on firearms for people under domestic violence restraining orders, supported their motion for an acquittal or, “at a minimum” a new trial.
Hunter Biden was found guilty earlier this month on two counts of making false statements for saying on a federal form that he was not addicted to drugs at the time he purchased a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver in October 2018, and a third count of illegally obtaining the firearm while addicted to drugs. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in that decision that when “an individual poses a credible threat to the physical safety of an intimate partner, that individual may — consistent with the Second Amendment — be banned from possessing firearms while the order is in effect.” However, Biden’s attorney’s argued in the new court filings that his Second Amendment right to bear arms ought to remain intact: “here, the jury did not find Mr. Biden ever terrorized anyone with a gun in public , or anywhere else, or used it dangerously in any way. That requires Mr. Biden’s acquittal.”
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