Legal scholar Jonathan Turley has noted that Hunter Biden should still be facing a prison sentence, despite his last-minute move to plead guilty in his federal tax charges case.
Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School, responded after Hunter Biden made a sudden change to a guilty plea to avoid his case going to trial this week.
Prof. Turley said Thursday that despite a sudden change in plea, the younger Biden would likely face jail time over tax charges if federal prosecutors pressed for a prison sentence.
Hunter Biden initially pled “not guilty” to federal tax charges.
However, his attorneys said he would change his plea Thursday to accept a guilty verdict, averting a trial on charges scheduled to start this week.
Turley said that Biden’s lawyers waited too long to make the deal, which hurt his chances of avoiding jail.
“Timing is important. You can get a better deal if you plead early rather than late,” Turley said.
“It’s sort of like waiting for the water to reach the deck on the Titanic before you ask about swimming lessons.
“I mean, it’s a little bit late for some of those options and so he really has succeeded in putting himself in the worst possible position in terms of a plea.
“This is the penalty for a lawyer standing in federal court and telling prosecutors quote, ‘just rip it up.’”
Biden pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges and a felony gun charge during a July 26, 2023, hearing.
It came after a plea bargain announced the previous June collapsed when U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika raised concerns.
Noreika discovered that prosecutors had allowed a clause to slip through that granted Hunter Biden blanket immunity for all future charges, even in unrelated cases.
It fell apart when the judge questioned the initial plea deal reached between federal prosecutors and Biden.
“I think it would be very strange for the Department of Justice after all of this history not to seek some jail time, and if they seek jail time, they’ll get it, very likely, from this judge,” Turley said.
“So that may ultimately prompt the president to pursue a pardon or commutation.
“We’ll have to see. The odds at this point favor jail time.
“They didn’t when the Justice Department was still in favor of a plea agreement after it collapsed.”
Biden faces up to 17 years in prison if convicted on all nine counts from another indictment secured by special counsel David Weiss over Biden’s alleged failure to pay over $1 million in taxes from 2016 to 2019.
Biden was also convicted on three felony counts in connection with the 2018 purchase of a .38-caliber revolver in June after jurors deliberated for slightly over three hours.
Turley added that Biden should have made his guilty plea shortly after the indictment was announced after “Outnumbered” co-host Kayleigh McEnany asked if Attorney General Merrick Garland would approve the deal.
“I would expect that he would likely get it,” Turley said.
“How that would play out in the politics of the moment is rather uncertain.
“As you’ve noted, I think you’re correct on this that most people really don’t see that nuance.
“I’m not entirely convinced that if he reserved the right to appeal, he has anything to appeal on.
“His defenses were a series of Hail Mary plays that just missed by a mile, and I don’t see any real appellate issue.
“This tax case’s open and shut, which is why back in 2023, I said you truly have to have a legal death wish not to plead guilty to these charges because it’s the easiest type of case to bring.”
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