Lawyers for Hunter Biden have filed a motion seeking a new trial, arguing that a Delaware court had no jurisdiction over the case when it went to trial.
Biden, the US president’s eldest living son, was found guilty earlier this month of three felonies related to the purchase of a gun while using crack cocaine.
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Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell argued in a court filing Monday that his client’s “convictions should be dropped” because the judge overseeing the case did not have the authority to hold a trial due to pending rulings in his appeal case.
A federal appeals court had rejected two attempts by Biden’s lawyers to dismiss the gun charges, but Lowell said the court had not yet issued a formal mandate to deny either of those appeals.
“Of course, any district court action taken after being divested of jurisdiction by an appeal must be vacated,” he wrote in Monday’s filing. “Mr. Biden’s convictions should be vacated because the court lacked jurisdiction to proceed with a trial.”
In a separate filing, Biden’s lawyers argued that a recent Supreme Court ruling, which upheld a federal ban on firearms for people under a domestic violence restraining order, supported their request for an acquittal in the case, or “at the very least” a new process. .
Biden faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, although first-time offenders rarely receive the maximum sentence. No sentencing date has been set.
The president has said he will not use his power to pardon or commute his son’s sentence.
