Lawyers representing Hunter Biden asked Monday for a new trial following his conviction last week on charges he lied about his drug use to buy a gun — only to withdraw the request minutes later.
Convicted felon Hunter Biden and his lawyers initially filed documents in Delaware federal court on Monday morning. They claimed that Judge Maryellen Noreika, who presided over the trial, lacked jurisdiction due to pending rulings by the Philadelphia-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals, Gazette reported.
Judge Noreika, who was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump, had previously dismissed several motions to drop the charges against Biden, including the defense’s argument that the case violated Biden’s Second Amendment rights.
A three-judge panel upheld Noreika’s rulings, but the appeals court has yet to rule on a request for reconsideration by the full Third Circuit.
According to New York Post, in the initial filing, Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell stated, “The Third Circuit, however, did not then and has not yet issued its mandate as to the orders dismissing either appeal. Thus, when this Court empaneled the jury on June 3, 2024 and proceeded to trial, it was without jurisdiction to do so.”
However, moments later it was revealed that the motion had been mysteriously deleted. A note in the court docket stated, “The Motion for a New Trial… has been deleted at the request of counsel,” describing it as a “correcting entry.” The reason for this sudden withdrawal remains unclear.
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The Third Circuit rejected one of Hunter’s appeals on May 9, finding it couldn’t make a ruling before trial.
The appellate court on May 28 also shot down the Biden scion’s other bid to toss the three gun charges he faced, finding that it couldn’t rule before a jury verdict.
Hunter, 54, was found guilty June 11 of falsely claiming he didn’t use drugs when he bought a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver on Oct. 12, 2018, when he was actually hooked on crack cocaine at the time.
He faces up to 25 years behind bars at his sentencing. Noreika has yet to set a sentencing date.
A spokesperson for special counsel David Weiss’ office declined to comment.
Lowell didn’t immediately return a request for comment on why he withdrew the motion for a new trial.
Last week, Hunter Biden dropped his lawsuit against former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Robert Costello, the former lawyer of the ex-New York City mayor. The lawsuit accused them of manipulating data found on Biden’s infamous laptop from hell.
In September 2023, Hunter Biden filed a civil lawsuit in a federal court in California against Rudy Giuliani and his former lawyer, Robert Costello, claiming they violated state and federal computer privacy laws when they ‘hacked into’ his laptop.
Biden’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, filed the stipulation for dismissal on Thursday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The document requested the court to dismiss the lawsuit against Giuliani and Robert Costello “without prejudice, with each party bearing its own attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses,” according to the New York Post.
“This dismissal – along with Hunter Biden’s conviction based on evidence taken from the laptop – is a vindication for Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Costello as well as all of the media outlets who broke the laptop story in 2020 and suffered orchestrated censorship by social media, the leftist mainstream media, and others who engaged in election interference,” Sibley told The Post.
