Hunter Biden felony gun conviction raises stakes at tax-fraud trial
Hunter Biden’s conviction on felony gun charges increases the likelihood he could face stiffer penalties at his September tax-evasion trial should he be found guilty, an expert told The Post.
One of Biden’s current mitigating factors for when he is sentenced by Judge Maryellen Noreika on the gun charges is the fact that he has no criminal history — something that won’t be true during his next trial in California overseen by Judge Mark C. Scarsi.
Both jurists were appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump.
“It can undermine him in two ways. First, he cannot count a ‘mitigating’ factor of being without a criminal record or prior offenses to lower the sentencing level. Second, the court can consider the aggravating factor of prior criminal conduct to increase the sentencing level,” said Jonathan Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University who has followed the trial closely.
“The tax case is far more serious in potential sentencing,” Turley continued. “It was insane for Hunter not to plead guilty [in the gun case] to increase the chances that he might avoid a prison sentence. That is doubly true with the California charges.”
Biden’s second trial is scheduled to begin in September.
The first son faces six misdemeanor and three felony counts for allegedly failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal income taxes between 2016 and 2019.
Information from the Hunter Biden laptop — once dismissed by Biden apologists and lefties as Russian disinformation — has been a significant source of evidence for prosecutors in both legal cases.
The tax-evasion trial will play out during the height of the 2024 presidential election and has the potential to be a wellspring of embarrassing new revelations about the first family just as voters head to the polls.
“If Hunter and Joe Biden are found to have conspired together on tax evasion, and it turns out that Joe Biden really is the ‘big guy,’ then his campaign is over,” said Rob Cole, a GOP consultant and senior advisor to former Gov. George Pataki — referencing a name assigned to President Biden on his son’s infamous laptop.
“In that case, Donald Trump will undoubtedly be the next President of the United States.”
