The 12 jurors who convicted Hunter Biden of lying about his drug addiction on a 2018 gun application were divided on Monday afternoon as they began deliberations.
“When the case was handed over to us, we went to the deliberation room,” Juror 10 told CNN on Tuesday. “We weren’t there that long…so [we] just decided the first thing we are going to do is vote now and see how the count was. So we voted and it was six to six.”
“I think they said ‘no’ because they wanted more information,” he added. “They don’t want to jump to conclusions right away and say ‘yes’ he was guilty.”
But the next morning, after deliberating for an hour on Monday and two more on Tuesday, the jury of six men and six women reached a unanimous decision to convict Biden of three federal counts.
For the first time in American history, the son of a sitting president has been convicted of a crime—and now faces up to 25 years in prison and a fine of up to $750,000. And while he is expected to receive a far lighter punishment because he is a first-time offender, the sentence will be handed down just before Election Day.
“I really don’t think that Hunter belongs in jail,” Juror 10 said. “It was very sad … not that he was being convicted of these crimes, but that his life had turned out the way it did.”
The juror provided new details about the decision-making, revealing what evidence jurors believed and how the large crowd of Biden supporters that came to court daily did not affect their deliberation process.
“No politics came into play and politics was not even spoken about,” the male juror added, noting that the group remained focused on Hunter Biden and the case against him. “We didn’t use Jill. We didn’t use President Biden.”
But, the juror noted he did feel bad for Biden’s 30-year-old daughter, Naomi, who testified for the defense—and believed it hurt the defense’s case. He added that Hallie Biden’s testimony about Biden’s actions after she threw away his gun at a grocery store was also impactful. (Biden initially made Hallie go back and search for the gun then, when she couldn’t find it, told her to file a police report because it was registered in his name.)
“When he said he did not want that gun back and that gun sat in evidence for almost five years, I think that’s what may have been what led to his downfall. If he had taken possession of that gun, I don’t know if we would have even had a trial,” Juror 10 said.
This post was originally published on Daily Beast
