Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

Juror Tells CNN He Doesn’t Think ‘Hunter Belongs In Jail’ After Voting To Convict Him

Hunter Biden hands Jill Biden a Bible as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take the oath of office, Jan. 20, 2021. (Screen Capture/PBS NewsHour)

A member of the jury that convicted Hunter Biden in his trial on Tuesday told CNN he does not feel the president’s son should spend time in jail.

The jury convicted Biden on all three charges in his federal gun trial in the case brought by special counsel David Weiss in September, such as providing false statements and knowingly possessing a gun while being addicted to drugs. The juror, who CNN did not identify except by saying he was “juror 10,” told the outlet that jail is not the proper sentence for the president’ son because of his actions.

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Juror Tells CNN He Doesn’t Think ‘Hunter Belongs In Jail’ After Convicting Him pic.twitter.com/2l7MxU9yI1

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“Deliberating, we were not thinking of the sentencing and no, I really don’t think that Hunter belongs in jail,” the juror said. “If you looked at this case and you realize that when Hallie dumped that gun in a trash can and it was retrieved and Hunter Biden did not want to press charges because he was the victim of a theft of the firearm, he did not want to press any charges against Hallie and another thing that I also thought was they asked him, ‘did you want your gun back?’ And he said ‘no,’ he did not want that gun back.”

“When he said he did not want that gun back. And that gun sat in evidence for almost five years, I think that may have been what led to his downfall,” the juror continued. “Had he taken possession of that gun, I don’t know if we would even had the trial because, he may have sold the gun, got rid of the gun, sold it back to a gun shop or whatever,” he continued. “And it wasn’t like it was sitting in evidence … I believe that means it was sitting in evidence and somebody got a hold of that and say, ‘hey, let’s check this out a little bit more. And see exactly how he obtained that gun.” The juror also said he did not think Biden should have testified during the trial.

White collar defense lawyer Seth Berenzweig told CNN on Monday that Biden’s sole hope for an acquittal was to “pull at the heartstrings of the jury.”

“The sentencing guidelines range is going to recommend 0-6 months in jail,” former Trump attorney Tim Parlatore said after the verdict. “So chances are Hunter’s going to get probation … I think that the president is going to be very hard pressed to commute that sentence if he gets probation because if he commutes it, then he also takes away his right to appeal.”

CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said earlier on Tuesday that polling suggests Americans perceive Biden’s treatment in the legal system as justified or insufficiently tough, noting “66% of Americans say that the legal system’s treatment of Hunter Biden has been fair.”

“In fact, according to the polling, if anything, they think it’s been not harsh enough on him,” Enten continued. “Just 27% of Americans think that the legal system has been unfair. So the fact is, most Americans have no problem with Hunter Biden being on trial. His favorability ratings are quite low, and … when you look at the polling, why the White House I think is genuinely worried [is] because he’s definitely, in their minds, potentially a liability for him.”