Judge rejects Hunter Biden’s bid to delay his June trial on federal gun charges

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Hunter Biden’s federal gun case will go to trial next month, a judge said Tuesday, denying a bid by lawyers for the president’s son to delay the prosecution.

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika rejected Hunter Biden’s request to push the trial in Delaware until September, which the defense said was necessary to line up witnesses and go through evidence handed over by prosecutors. The judge said she believes “everyone can get done what needs to get done” by the trial’s start date of June 3.

President Joe Biden’s son is accused of lying about his drug use in October 2018 on a form to buy a gun that he kept for about 11 days. He has pleaded not guilty and acknowledged struggling with an addiction to crack cocaine during that period in 2018, but his lawyers have said he didn’t break the law.

He’s separately charged in a tax case in California that’s tentatively scheduled to go to trial in late June.

Special Counsel David Weiss’ team plans to show jurors in the gun case portions of his 2021 memoir, “Beautiful Things,” in which he detailed his struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse following the 2015 death of his older brother, Beau, who succumbed to brain cancer at age 46, according to court papers filed Tuesday. Hunter Biden has said he has been sober since 2019.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Court rejects Hunter Biden’s appeal in gun case, setting stage for trial to begin next month </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline