Hunter Biden Makes an Unexpected Plea in a Tax Case

Hunter Biden Makes an Unexpected Plea in a Tax Case

In an unprecedented move, Mr. Biden entered what is known as an “Alford plea,” admitting there was sufficient evidence to prosecute him but maintaining his innocence regarding the same allegations.

Before his trial on tax charges began on Thursday, Hunter Biden unexpectedly entered a plea in an attempt to escape the hassle and cost of a painful public disclosure of his past wrongdoings.

Abbe Lowell, the attorney representing Mr. Biden in this case, made the unprecedented decision to file a so-called Alford plea, admitting there was sufficient evidence to convict him while maintaining his innocence about the same allegations, thirty minutes before jury selection started.

The maneuver, named after a Supreme Court decision, is typically used to jump-start stalled plea negotiations, postpone a proceeding or avoid a trial altogether by leapfrogging straight to the sentencing process.

It is not clear if Judge Mark C. Scarsi, a Trump appointee who is presiding over the case, will accept the plea. He immediately recessed the case for two hours to give prosecutors a chance to respond — but also indicated that he was still prepared to proceed with interviewing 120 jurors before the end of the week.

The youngest son of the president, Joe Biden, is being represented by attorneys, and they feel that David C. Weiss, the special counsel in the case, declined to enter into meaningful plea talks after coming under heavy fire for agreeing to a generous deal with Biden on tax and gun charges that would have avoided jail time.

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That arrangement broke down in July 2023 during a tumultuous hearing at the federal courthouse in Wilmington, and Mr. Weiss went on to indict Mr. Biden for lying on a firearms application in Delaware as well as several tax offenses in California, where he currently resides.

After President Biden withdrew from the 2024 contest in July, Hunter Biden’s tax trial in Los Angeles became a political afterthought. For his son, however, who faces the prospect of going to jail, the stakes are higher than ever.

He faces accusations of filing a false or fraudulent tax return, failing to file and pay taxes, and avoiding a tax assessment.

Leo J. Wise and Derek Hines, the two top Weiss deputies handling the case, might be applying more pressure to force a considerably worse plea deal than the previous one that ultimately collapsed. However, the defense is led to believe otherwise by the government’s tone in documents that appear to be a moral assessment of Mr. Biden’s behavior during his drug and alcohol addiction.