Guilty on all charges. Will Hunter Biden go to jail? (2024)

Hunter Biden has been found guilty on all charges related to his drug use and gun possession, making him the first child of a sitting president to be a convicted of a crime.

President Joe Biden's son now awaits sentencing - the maximum he could receive is 25 years in prison, though experts say such a term is very unlikely.

Here's what we know about the historic case and what happens next.

If Biden is given a prison sentence, legal experts said that it is very unlikely he would face the maximum 25 years for the three gun charges.

Even for the charge of being an illegal drug user in possession of a gun, which carries a maximum 10 year penalty, few believe that Biden will face the full potential punishment.

South Texas College of Law Houston professor Dru Stevenson said it would be "bizarre and unprecedented” if Biden was to receive anything close to five years.

“That’s for people that [are] really dangerous, like someone who had already been on the FBI’s watchlist,” he said.

Prof Stevenson said there was a “50:50 chance” of a prison term, and that he would expect something closer to 20 months.

“It’s hard to predict, but I think it’s very possible,” he said.

Prof Stevenson said it was also possible that Biden gets probation, rather than prison.

Biden’s apparent recovery from drug abuse may also be cited by his legal team to merit a lighter sentence.

However, he noted that the judge overseeing the case had declined to give Biden’s lawyers “any breaks” during the trial.

Judge Maryellen Noreika was tough on Biden’s lawyers during evidentiary hearings, the Texas professor said, and she frequently ruled against defence lawyers’ requests.

That could indicate that Biden might face a harsher sentence than most would consider typical.

Judge Maryellen Noreika is expected to schedule a sentencing hearing in the next few weeks.

Biden will also meet probation officers for a pre-sentencing report to be used by the judge.

In the interim, it is unlikely that he will be held in custody.

Even in the event of a prison sentence, it is not expected that Biden would have to surrender to authorities immediately.

Rather, he would probably be given a date to turn himself in.

Former US Assistant Attorney Neama Rahmani told the BBC that after sentencing, Biden's team will have 30 days to appeal, something Mr Rahmani said was very likely.

"This is a case made for appeal," he said.

He added that sending Biden to prison would be a "logistical nightmare" because of the Secret Service protection he gets as the president's son.

Biden faced three federal charges in the case: two counts of making false statements and one of illegal gun possession.

The charges all relate to his purchase of a revolver at a Delaware gun store on 12 October 2018, which he kept for about 11 days.

By Biden's own admission, he was deep in the throes of a "full-blown addiction" to crack cocaine at the time.

The two false statement charges stemmed from allegations that he lied about his drug use on a federally mandated form when he bought the weapon.

The third count was related to his possession of a firearm while using drugs.

Before the guilty verdict, President Biden said he would not pardon his son.

When asked in an interview with ABC News if he would rule out the option, he said: "Yes."

After the verdict he appears to be sticking to the same message.

On Tuesday, he said in a statement: "I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal."

To convict Mr Biden, prosecutors had to convince jurors that he knowingly made false statements on the form in a bid to deceive the store that sold him the pistol.

Prosecutors relied on deeply personal text messages and other communications made while Mr Biden was in the throes of addiction to prove he was a drug user when he took possession of the gun.

In one such message sent to Hallie Biden a day after the gun was purchased, Biden says he was on his way to meet a dealer named Mookie.

Ms Biden, who was called to testify by prosecutors, told the court that the text had meant "he was buying crack cocaine".

Other witnesses called to the stand were Mr Biden's ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, and ex-girlfriend Zoe Kestan, who both spoke about his addiction.

Prosecutors have also pointed to Biden's own 2021 memoir, in which he detailed his experiences as a drug user who was "up twenty-four hours a day, smoking every 15 minutes, seven days a week".

"All my energy revolved around smoking drugs and making arrangements to buy drugs - feeding the beast," he wrote in the book.

While Biden has himself been quiet about the trial, his lawyers focused on how much he was aware of his addiction at the end of the purchase, and on the quality of the evidence itself.

When questioning Hallie Biden, defence lawyer Abbe Lowell also sought to cast doubt on whether his client was seen using drugs on the day of the purchase or around it.

The third charge, regarding Mr Biden's alleged possession of a firearm while a drug user, is considered unusual, as it can be hard to prove someone is a drug user and has a gun.

"It's just really rare that they would go after someone and prosecute them for this," Prof Stevenson said. "But this is a high-profile person and there's been members of Congress demanding he be prosecuted."

Among the most prominent pieces of evidence at the trial is the information on Biden's infamous laptop, which has been the focus of intense media speculation and focus from conservative news outlets.

The laptop contained the text messages and pictures sent and received by Biden around the date of the firearm purchase, which prosecutors argue are evidence of his guilt.

Biden's own lawyers have argued that the computer was tampered with before it fell into the hands of investigators.

Erika Jensen, an FBI agent who was called as a witness to testify about the laptop's contents, confirmed its authenticity to jurors.

The special counsel appointed to oversee the probes into Hunter Biden, David Weiss, has said that the tampering argument is a "conspiracy theory" with "no supporting evidence".

The laptop has also been at the centre of unproven theories linking Biden and his father to corruption, which they both deny.

In addition to the gun charges in Delaware, Biden is facing separate federal charges in California over allegations that he evaded a tax assessment, failed to properly file and pay taxes and filed a fraudulent tax return.

Several months after the spectacular collapse of a plea deal that would address both sets of charges last year, Biden also pleaded not guilty to the tax charges.