Hunter Biden indicted on felony gun charges; legal expert weighs in
Sep 14, 2023, 8:30 PM | Updated: Sep 15, 2023, 1:25 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — On Thursday, a federal grand jury in Delaware indicted Hunter Biden on three felony gun charges.
The Associated Press reports that Biden is accused of lying about his use of drugs when he purchased a firearm in October 2018. A gun possession charge against the 53-year-old Biden had been part of a plea deal that included misdemeanor tax charges. But that plea deal fell apart earlier this year.
CNN reports that U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss was elevated to special council earlier this year. That was done to avoid any potential interference from the U.S. Department of Justice.
KSL Legal Analyst Greg Skordas offered his insight on the case to KSL NewsRadio.
“I think it was really wise of the Department of Justice to appoint the prosecutor, who had already been working on the case,” Skordas said. “But working under the auspices of the Department of Justice when he’s appointed as a special prosecutor, he can make independent decisions of the DOJ. And that’s what he did.”
When purchasing a weapon, you are asked if you are taking drugs. By answering yes, Skordas says, an individual would not be allowed to make the purchase.
“Yes, it would have disqualified him,” he said.
Felony gun charges and other factors
Skordas goes on to say there are other factors that would eliminate a person from purchasing a firearm. Those factors include felony convictions or crimes involving domestic violence and if someone is legally in the country.
While background checks are performed, Skordas says there isn’t much that can be done about whether someone is using drugs or not.
“But some things like ‘Are you a current drug user?’ There really isn’t much to prove one way or the other, whether the person is telling the truth about that,” he said.
Skordas was asked how frustrating it would have been part of the plea deal that fell apart.
“It’s almost more of an embarrassment than frustration,” he said. “Because you do all this work. You sit down with the defendant, you sit down with your agent, the defense attorney and you come up with a deal and you present it to the judge. And the judge asks questions that maybe the attorneys in this case hadn’t thought about very well.”
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