Hunter Biden officially seeks new trial in gun case, citing supposed procedural hiccup

By: CNN

Posted: Jun 24, 2024 6:42 PM CDT

Matt Slocum/AP via CNN Newsource

By Tierney Sneed

(CNN) — Hunter Biden is requesting a new trial in his federal gun case, with his lawyers claiming that there was a procedural issue in the timing of the early June trial that resulted in a guilty verdict against him.

His lawyers claim that the trial court did not have jurisdiction over his case because of appeals that he had filed challenging his prosecution. The defense team says that the conviction must be wiped away because, even though the appeals court had rejected the appeals by the time the trial started, it had not issued what’s known as a “mandate” – the procedural maneuver that effectively notifies a lower court of ruling made by a higher court in an appeal.

Biden’s lawyers are pointing to the absence of a mandate sending the case back to the trial court after the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals handed down rulings rejecting two of his appeals in late May.

“The Third Circuit, however, did not then and has not yet issued its mandate as to the orders dismissing either appeal,” his lawyers wrote. “Thus, when this Court empaneled the jury on June 3, 2024 and proceeded to trial, it was without jurisdiction to do so.”

The trial judge, US District Judge Maryellen Noreika, had previously said that in her view, Biden’s appeals of her pre-trial rulings “will not independently divest this Court of jurisdiction.”

Biden’s lawyers had initially filed a request for a new trial on June 17, but then quickly withdrew the filing from the docket.