Hunter Biden, son of US President Joe Biden, arrives for private testimony with members of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee investigating the president’s impeachment, February 28, 2024, Washington, US. O’Neill House Office Building.
Evelyn HochsteinReuter
A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected Hunter Biden’s bid to dismiss his pending criminal firearms case, saying the appeal was premature.
The ruling clears the way for Hunter Biden’s trial in the case to begin June 3 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Mr. Biden is the son of President Joe Biden.
In Thursday’s ruling, a three-judge panel United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Hunter Biden said he failed to show that the trial judge’s decision in April to allow the firearms case to proceed could be appealed before a final judgment, which could include his own sentencing. .
The appeals panel, in its unanimous decision, did not rule on the merits of Biden’s argument that the charges should be dismissed.
If Biden is convicted at trial, he could argue for removal again in the same appeals court that he declined to consider in Thursday’s order.
Hunter Biden’s lawyer, Abby Lowell, plans to ask all of the judges on the Third Circuit to reconsider Biden’s appeal and may even ask the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case. suggested that there is.
“As we consider the committee’s decision, we consider the issues involved to be of such importance that further consideration of our request is appropriate,” Rowell said.
Biden has been charged with three counts related to purchasing a handgun while under the influence of illegal drugs. He pleaded not guilty.
In late 2023, Biden’s lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika to dismiss the charges against him on three separate grounds.
The first is that the charges violated a non-prosecution clause in a pretrial diversion agreement that Biden and prosecutors signed before a planned case deal last year to avoid prosecution confusion.
In a second motion to dismiss, Biden’s lawyers argued that Biden was prosecuted in a retaliatory and selective manner because his father is president. Based on this reasoning, the prosecution would violate the separation of powers clause of the U.S. Constitution. Because the indictment was improperly motivated by Republicans in Congress and used him as a political whip to attack the president.
The third motion to dismiss says the appointment of David Weiss as the Justice Department’s special counsel handling the Biden case violates federal rules that require special counsels to be selected from outside the U.S. government. he claimed. Mr. Weiss was the United States Attorney for the District of Delaware at the time of his appointment as Special Counsel and remains in that office.
In a separate ruling in April, Noreika rejected all three arguments to dismiss the charges.
Mr. Biden has been separately charged with tax crimes in Los Angeles federal court by Mr. Weiss. In early April, the judge in the case rejected eight defense motions to dismiss the case, in which Biden pled not guilty.
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