If you were Hunter Biden, would you have taken the plea deal?

Wow! I’ve seen murderers get less time. Just from what you have written, I think I would have taken the plea. But I haven’t followed it that closely either.

I think that had Hunter been a Republican that they would be calling it a sham trial and a witch hunt.

I thought a plea deal was offered before and he accepted it, but then the DA took it away? or something like that. Something strange went on pre-trial.

@janbb I think the judge was questioning the legality of it. I don’t know all the details. I’ve been really busy the past two weeks so not following it closely.

1. I doubt he will be found guilty.

2. If he is, the penalty will be minor.

3. If his name were not Biden, this wouldn’t have been a big thing. This was a shining example of a politically motivated prosecution.

Hunter would have gladly accepted the plea deal. But Weiss made it very shady. The wording was such that if he pled guilty to the two misdemeanor tax issues, he would not be allowed to be prosecuted for any other crimes, then or in the future. The judge looked at that and raised a red flag if I remember right. Hell, I’d take a plea deal like that. It would be a permanent get-out-of-jail-free card.

And I agree with @elbanditoroso. My view is that he is guilty, it is obvious to one and all. The facts are there in black and white and there really is no arguing with them. All the testimony pretty much says he is guilty. But either he will not be found guilty by the jury in his home state or he will be given a minimal sentence like probation for a year. All because he has the last name “Biden” and is associated with Democrats. If this was anyone else from any other group, he’d have been sentenced already to a stiff jail sentence. Is it politically motivated? Probably. But to be honest, his treatment by the DOJ has been politically motivated as well, except in the other direction.

@seawulf575 I was unaware of the details of the plea deal. I’ll have to look for it.

That plea deal was straightforward as most are. However the Biden camp tried a last minute change that the Judge was not willing to let go forward.

It really doesn’t matter. It’s his first offense so he’s not going to do any jail time. He’ll likely get probation and pay an insignificant fine.

Guilty on all counts. Lock his ass up. They can put him in a cell next to his dad and Trump for all I care.

Yes, guilty on all 3 felony counts. That’s what would make me very nervous if I were him – not the fact that it’s not likely that he will be sentenced to any jail time because it’s his first offense. It’s the fact that he CAN be sentenced to any jail time and he’s at the mercy of the Judge. If I were him, I’d be saying “oh shit” right now. I’m not a gambler and so I am more into the “better safe than sorry” deal than the “oh shit, I hope the Judge doesn’t fuck me.”

^Dad can pardon him after the election. I know he said he wouldn’t, but if he’s sentenced to a prison term, he should pardon him.

@chyna That’s if Dad gets re-elected.

Guilty on all three felony gun charges 7 minutes ago. Not going to lie, I“m pleasantly surprised.

@jca2 No. He can do it right before he leaves office.

@chyna Oh, yes, you’re right.

As the parent of a child who went through drug addiction, I feel for the President and the pain he’s going through.
Hunter recognized the plea deal left him open to future prosecution. He was in a no win scenario.

@filmfann I, too, am a parent of someone who went through drug addiction. I get the pain the parents are going through, even though their child is in his 50’s. But in know that for my child, we actually had her arrested and used that incarceration period as a way to get her away from the drugs and the triggers and to get through the worst of the detox. In the end, he did the crime, he ought to do the time. Drug addiction is not a valid excuse for breaking the law in my book.

In NYS, they have a program (DTATI or something like that) where an addict can get help in lieu of jail time. It’s also known as “Drug Court” and the attorneys for the government department that I worked for used to call it “Clapping for Crack Heads” because everyone would clap and encourage the addicts to do well or to keep trying. If the addicts screwed up, the judges were pretty liberal but if it was excessive, they got jail time instead of Drug Court.

I’m remember now that the last part of DTATI was “alternatives to incarceration.”

@jca2 These are Federal charges he was found guilty for, not NY State.

Surprising to me that all the gun rights advocates are not screaming 2nd Amendment persecution for a false gun registration.

I get it, @zenvelo, as per my previous discusison with @chyna. I was just talking about what was available from Probation on the local level, because I know Probation officers can be real ball busters. I don’t have personal experience as a Probationer, but I know from working with them when I was a caseworker and then when I represented them in the organization I worked for where we represented employees, they can be very strict, stern and unyielding.

@zenvelo We also prefer guns in the hands of sober people. He committed federal felonies, I havent heard one single gun owner defend him actually.

Well. He’s guilty.
It’s wild that this case got SO much attention.
The crime, was actually a crime that most people who legally purchase a firearm commits.
The question is straightforward. Are you on addictive drugs, or do you use illegal drugs.

For those wandering what I’m talking about, a 4473 is a legal document of sorts, required for the NICS background check everyone goes through when attempting to purchase a firearm.
At the end of the questionnaire, (which focuses almost entirely on if you are an American citizen, but does ask about drug use,) you have to sign that everything you provided was factual.
The issue, is that a large percentage of people who purchase/own firearms, consume alcohol in a volume and frequency that defines them as an ”alcoholic.”
SO…............
If Hunter is guilty of lying on the form, thousands of Americans are as well…....

But. It IS THE law.
I don’t believe he will likely see time. Like Trump, I believe he should see some time.

Both are awaiting far more serious tax fraud charges.

Joe, seems to have played this hand as best as he could.

The ruling on Hunter, is as relevant as the price of tea in China…..
Just another American son, who lost his life to drugs.

Conservatives are quick to forgive GW Bush, for his “youthful indiscretion,” or life of alcohol and cocaine abuse.

The Kennedy’s, were a circus too.

Even GW’s wife killed a man.
Cheney shot a man in the face.

Unfortunately. Hunter is the first such problem?.........

DC, is full of such losers.

The entire world, suffers from illicit/addictive drugs….

Our government, supports the drugs it can tax.
If crack was legal, Hunter would have been just another American lying in that form…...

It’s worth noting. The firearm was a small revolver.
Not an AR-15, or a weapon “of mass destruction.”
The only reason Hunter got caught, is because he was trying to recover the weapon, after learning it was thrown in a public trashcan. We don’t have to assume that’s because Hunter is a good guy. He probably didn’t care about the dangers of a lost firearm.

But. As guns go, a .38 revolver, is good for close range defense, or suicide. It is NOT impossible that he bought it, thinking about suicide….

Just saying. The situation is pretty sad.

Hunter Biden is a piece of shit. He helped pass anti-consumer legislation along with his dad that has ruined the finances of countless working class Americans. So I have zero fucks to give about him rotting in a cell.

I think the outcome was warranted. He lied relative to purchasing a gun.
If we do anything right on gun ownership at least follow the letters of the law.
Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any wool…...

Trump should be paying attention to the sentencing.

If Biden gets NO jail time, Trump will probably say that he shouldn’t either.

But if Biden is sentenced to jail, Trump can’t argue that justice is unfair – which in turn means that Trump should be jailed as well.

There are multiple layers to this situation.

^Multiple layers of deep shit.

If the deal was reducing all charges to misdemeanors and no jail time, I probably would have taken the deal. If he owes taxes then he should just pay them and penalty. Wasn’t he making millions? Did he spend it all on his addiction?

I agree with @elbanditoroso this will be compared to Trump sentencing in the minds of many.

I thought I heard Lindsey Graham on TV saying Hunter shouldn’t have been prosecuted on the gun charges.

As a side note: Trump commuted the sentence given to Democratic Chicago governor Blagojevich. He did serve four years I think, I just saw an interview with Blagojevich. I always thought his 14 year sentence was too harsh. I didn’t understand why so many people hated him so much. I could see Trump helping Hunter get out of jail if he himself doesn’t wind up going to jail. I think Trump is the type to seek revenge, but Hunter and Biden really haven’t done much to him. Same thing with Hillary, I don’t think he felt any need to go after her since he won.

@jca2 They have/had a program like that near me. Instead of jail, addicts were getting sent to rehab. The results were that we ended up with addicts not going to jail, ending up back on their drug of choice, and then getting arrested again for the cycle to start all over. Many eventually died of overdose without ever getting clean. Rehab works great if the user wants to get clean. If they are told to get clean it doesn’t do a damned thing.

@zenvelo 2A supporters are all about legal and safe use of guns. We all know that when you buy a gun you have to fill out the paperwork for at least the FBI check, regardless of where you are. We also know that lying on those forms is a felony…I believe it says it right on the paper.

I’m more surprised that the gun control crowd isn’t going crazy trying to use this as an example of how easy it is to lie on forms to get a gun.

@seawulf575 I don’t know what the stats are on the success rate of the programs in NY. I know there are a bunch of programs for alternatives to incarceration (I just googled) so it would probably be time consuming to google stats, but i’m sure they’re available somewhere.

I am usually sympathetic with addicts becacuse i know it’s very hard for them to kick their habits, and it’s usually a lifestyle which means their friends, their free time, all of it, is involved.

When I was about 20 I had a friend who was a heroin addict and he was also diabetic, so he was in bad shape physically with the drug and with the diabetes (he ended up blind and is now deceased). One time when he tried to get clean, on his own he told me “life is boring.” I said yes life is boring. He worked full time for the PO, but in his spare time, so much of it was spent getting a ride to the Bronx, copping, going home, shooting up, then spending the night half asleep, yes, the rest of us have a lot of free time to fill when you’re not doing all that.

I have mixed feelings feelings about Trump, H. Biden in the courts for rather minor infractions but serous consequences. These are political hits but to be fair, the two POS deserve it if you asked me. I just don’t like the political machine tying up the courts like this.

Although Hunter was an addict, he was also a lawyer and knew the law on obtaining a gun illegally.
I thought he acted very well after the verdict and took blame for his actions. At least he wasn’t screeching and screaming that it was a witch hunt.

Totally agreed, @chyna.

@seawulf575 But most 2A zealots think gun registration is unconstitutional, and have been very opposed to restrictions on sales at gunshows with no registration and no waiting period.

@zenvelo I think gun registrations are unconstitutional, I’ll give you that. Or at least a really, really bad idea. Just like I think having your doctor ask you questions about your gun ownership should be illegal. But Hunter lied on a gun permit form. My understanding is this is the federal form everyone buying a gun at a shop fills out to allow the FBI to do a cursory background check on that person. I actually am okay with those.

To the OP, I would have taken a flee deal.

Well. It’s over.
I haven’t heard anyone say that HB shouldn’t have been convicted.

One big part of HB’s defense was that he did not consider himself an addict, at the time he filled that form out.

His behavior around that time, according to multiple sources, suggested he was indeed still very much on drugs.

They can dress him up, to bring him to court. But for a guy that smokes crack, and is involved with that life, he is really a sad case.

I wager ALL of us, have been effected by the plethora of street drugs and everything that comes with it.
It has nothing to do with Mexico, or China.
The US, is one of the world’s biggest illegal drug markets.
It really doesn’t matter, what changes, if people here still desire such drugs.
Supply, WILL meet such a large demand.
I believe that the drug use, is a symptom of our diseased society. However it’s said, it’s an in-house issue.

Wulf. The lefties decriminalized drugs in 2020, in Oregon.
The results were catastrophic.
They have hit full reverse, but unfortunately I agree that this isn’t the most effective way of dealing with the problem.

What I hate about prison sentences, is that they destroy a person’s ability to even recover.
The neglect, sexual violence, and harsh conditions of America’s privatized prison system, does NOT address rehabilitation. Which is supposed to be a factor, at least in non-violent cases.
Not JUST punishment.

The “justice” system is as systematically flawed, as any other. It thrives, off of keeping people locked up.

I don’t have any great suggestions, on how to battle the country’s drug problems.

I could say, there has been a war on the Middle class, and poor.
And I believe that.
I also know (from history,) that such top heavy empires, are NOT sustainable.

I WOULD like to see how people behaved, if they had livable wages, affordable housing, good education, and nutrition.

But. That will never happen.
The wealthy don’t understand.
Covid, was in part SO deadly, because people aren’t healthy.
Viruses, don’t care about if someone is wealthy or poor.

The rich, and wealthy who suffered from the ravages of Covid, were really suffering from keeping people in abject squalor.
Unhealthy, poor people, living in poverty, breed such pandemics.
Or at least help them spread faster.

I know that there are PLENTY of rich people, who abuse illicit substances. But many of them had affluent lives, which seems to be less than ideal for growing people.

Maybe if we put narcane in the water, nobody can get high?....