WILMINGTON, Delaware — Hunter Biden’s high-stakes weapons trial began Thursday with raw, heartbreaking testimony about his history of addiction to crack cocaine.
It ended with a grumpy octogenarian talking about socks.
The dramatic change in tone in the criminal trial of the president’s son came as prosecutors tried to complete their story of what happened during the fateful two-week period in October 2018.
Biden is accused of lying about his drug use when he bought a gun on October 12, 2018. Eleven days later, Hallie Biden – the widow of Beau Biden and was in a relationship with Hunter at the time – found the gun in his truck and tried to get rid of it.
Prosecutors spent most of the four-day trial proving the depths of Biden’s substance abuse, including around the time he bought the gun. Hallie provided critical testimony on that point Thursday morning.
But later in the day, prosecutors focused on a different part of the story: what happened to the gun after Hallie Biden threw it in a trash can outside an upscale supermarket two minutes from her Wilmington home. She soon regretted the decision and returned to the store, but it was gone. So she spoke to a store manager and they called the police.
As prosecutors tried to show what happened next, the trial deviated from its otherwise serious subject matter and took on the feel of a slapstick caper about a search for a missing gun. The main narrators were a few locals who were called to the stand to testify. Judges grinned at each other and shared Tic Tacs as they listened.
First up was Millard Greer, a police officer tasked with finding the gun.
There was one promising lead: Security camera footage showed an old man near the dumpster where Hallie Biden left the gun.
Greer told jurors how he questioned people at the mall about the man. Many had spotted him because he had a habit of searching trash cans for recyclables.
After several days of monitoring the area, Greer spotted him while rummaging through the many trash cans at the edge of the neat shopping center.
The officer confronted him and noted that someone had put something in a trash can that he shouldn’t have.
“Yes, they did!” replied the man named Edward Banner.
What was it? Greer asked.
“A thirty-eight special,” he said.
Banner then took Greer to his modest split-level home. But there was a problem: he had forgotten his keys and locked himself out.
Banner panicked and banged on the door. His wife was sleeping inside. He finally pounded long enough to wake her.
“Things got a little weird at that point,” Greer said.
As soon as she opened the door, Banner stormed up the stairs.
“Woah, woah, woah,” Greer recalled. “There are weapons here!”
Banner soon handed Greer a box of rolled up socks.
“I think this is what you’re looking for,” Banner said in Greer’s recollection. “And he pulls out a sock with a gun in it.”
Then he pulled out another sock, with another gun. The Colt pistol Biden purchased was in one of the socks, Greer testified. The other was holding a semi-automatic handgun that a colleague had given to Greer for safekeeping more than a decade earlier.
At one point, Greer launched into a lengthy explanation — complete with technical terms and broad hand gestures — about the difference between a semi-automatic weapon and a pistol like the one Biden bought. It was more than anyone asked for, and the attorney who questioned him quickly moved on.
Then it was time to hear from Banner, a small 80-year-old with a shuffling gait, a blue blazer and a very pink face.
Judge Maryellen Noreika helped him gently lower himself into the witness chair. Prosecutor Derek Hines, a tall man with a booming voice, then greeted him. But Banner showed no sign that he heard it. A courtroom employee rushed over and offered him a pair of headphones. He slid it over his head a bit, but it didn’t seem to help. So Hines walked across the courtroom, stood right next to Banner, bent down and spoke to him louder and slower.
Banner told the jury about his unusual hobby: searching Wilmington’s trash cans for recyclables and then bringing them to New York to sell them for 25 to 75 cents a pound. He makes about $120 per trip, he said.
“You’re saving the environment and making a little money in the process,” Hines said slowly and loudly.
“Especially now, with gas prices!” Banner replied.
He then showed Banner the security footage of him at the mall’s trash can.
What was in there? Hines asked.
A thirty-eight Colt, Banner replied, and “a black cylinder-like thing that you could use to load the gun or whatever,” he said.
What did he do with the gun?
“I put it on the top shelf of the closet,” he said.
Hines asked him about police involvement. Did a cop approach him in the parking lot?
“Possibly!” Banner replied. “I don’t remember exactly how it all came about.”
Abbe Lowell, Biden’s lead attorney, questioned Banner about the episode. He asked if there were any bullets in the gun when Banner found it.
“I certainly didn’t take anything out or put anything in!” he replied, a little angrily.
And did Banner put the gun in a sock? Lowell asked loudly.
“I don’t remember a sock!” Banner replied.
Did Banner put another weapon in a sock? Lowell wondered.
“I don’t know anything about no sock!”
“I didn’t need either weapon!” he added.
The interrogation ended quickly.
