On September 5, 2024, Hunter Biden, the son of US President Biden, appeared in court in Los Angeles, California to face a tax evasion trial.
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An attorney for Hunter Biden told a federal judge in Los Angeles that there is no reason to proceed with jury selection in a criminal tax case that was scheduled to begin Thursday morning as President Joe Biden’s son plans to change his plea.
Attorney Abbey Lowell said Hunter Biden wants to raise what’s known as an Alford plea, in which defendants insist they are innocent of the crimes they are charged with but acknowledge prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them.
If U.S. Judge Mark Scalzi accepts Alford’s guilty plea, Biden will be convicted.
Lowell’s statement surprised prosecutors. Scalzi gave them time to digest the developments and discuss them with Biden’s defense team.
According to Justice Department guidelines, federal prosecutors “may not agree” to Alford’s plea “except in the most unusual circumstances and only after approval of a written request by the Tax Division’s assistant attorney general or a senior department official.”
Biden, 54, who previously pleaded not guilty in the case, was charged with three felonies and six misdemeanors related to failing to pay at least $1.4 million in federal taxes between 2016 and 2019.
More than 100 potential jurors gathered Thursday morning for jury selection in the trial.
But Lowell told Scaci that “there is no reason to proceed with jury selection because Mr. Biden intends to change his plea.”
Lowell told Scaci that there was “no agreement” with prosecutors on Biden’s planned Alford plea. But lawyers said there was no need to sign such an agreement.
“The law is very clear. If the defendant meets Rule 11b, the court must accept the plea,” Lowell said.
Lowell also said, “I don’t think we would agree on a traditional plea situation,” which would likely require prosecutors to agree to the terms of the plea.
“This is the first we’ve heard of this,” Leo Wise, the prosecutor on the case, told Scaci.
Wise requested time to discuss the proposed plea changes privately.
“I think this problem can be solved today,” Lowell said. “It won’t take a few days.”
Scalzi told lawyers that for now he would not release the 125 people gathered for jury selection. He postponed the hearing of the case until 2 p.m.
Hunter Biden was convicted in June after a trial in a separate case in which he was charged with crimes related to the purchase of a handgun in 2018 while he was a user and addict of crack cocaine.
He is awaiting sentencing in the case, which is pending in U.S. District Court in Delaware.
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