A Delaware court, after a seven days trial, found Hunter Biden, the son of current President Joe Biden, guilty of three felony counts related to buying a gun during his drug addiction.

The felonies are related to a revolver that Hunter Biden bought in October 2018 in a Delaware gun shop. The first two felonies were for lying about his drug use on a mandatory federal background check form, and the third one was for an unlawfully weapon possession while being addicted to illegal drugs.

This conviction is the first one to happen to a president’s immediate family member during a father’s term in the White House. Hunter Biden, 54 and President Biden’s second child, could now face a fine of up to $ 750,000 and up to 25 years in prison, though some legal scholars are saying that such a term is very unlikely.

The sentence, according to what the judge Maryellen Noreika said, is usually set for 120 days following a verdict, and in this case it will happen right before the US Election on November 5th. Hunter Biden’s former girlfriend, Zoe Kestan – a dancer he met in 2017 – was in the courtroom and testified about his almost constant crack cocaine abuse in the months leading to the gun purchase in 2018.
President Biden said in a statement that he is willing to accept the outcome and “continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” Defense attorney Abbe Lowell explained that they would “continue to vigorously pursue all the legal challenges available.” The jury’s decision arrived in an already tense political environment and soon after the Republican candidate Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felonies in New York.

President Joe Biden talks with his son Hunter Biden as he arrives Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Del., Tuesday, June 11, 2024. (Manuel Balce Ceneta – AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta).

The case of Hunter Biden is just a reminder and a reflection of the addiction crisis across the US. According to the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2022, almost 49 million Americans aged 12 and older struggled with addiction within the last year. This is not the first time Hunter Biden is under the microscope.

In December of 2023, federal prosecutors have charged him with evading at least $ 1.4million in federal taxes that he owed for tax years dating back from 2016 to 2019. On top of that, some analysis of his hard drive computer show that he and his company, from 2013 to 2018, brought in about $ 11 million thanks to his role as an attorney, his work with a Chinese businessman now accused of fraud, and as a board member with a firm in Ukraine being accused of bribery.