![]() ![]() If he doesn't comply with his probation requirements, prosecutors can bring a felony charge against him carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. It may give prosecutors some leverage over Biden. The diverted gun charge, Rahmani said, is highly unusual. "In particular, any US attorney's office investigating the corruption and investigating the allegations that Hunter Biden failed to register as a foreign agent, the allegations that he paid his then-vice president father for influence on behalf of foreign entities." "There's nothing that I've seen that indicates that that the US Attorney's Office in Delaware is going to tie the hands of a US attorney's office elsewhere," Zelin said. It doesn't look like that's the case, according to Randy Zelin, a defense attorney and professor at Cornell Law School. In order to ward off charges related to that conduct, Biden would need to reach a global non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department. Republicans in Congress have said they plan to continue investigating Biden's conduct as well, including over allegations that he was engaged in corruption through his role in the Ukrainian company Burisma, that he entangled his father in the alleged corruption, and various nebulous claims related to his laptop.Ī judge, Rahmani said, would not want to interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation - especially as it's subject to partisan attacks from Republicans. His office has reportedly been examining whether Biden broke laws related to money laundering and lobbying for foreign governments. While Biden's attorney said the Justice Department's five-year investigation into Biden was "resolved," US Attorney David Weiss, who is overseeing the prosecution, said in a statement that "the investigation is ongoing." "The investigation could have gone in 9 million different directions and the judge has no right to know any of that." What about Burisma? The big guy? The laptop from hell? "It's not really any of their business," Krissoff said. It's more likely, according to Rahmani, for a judge to reject a plea deal if the sentencing recommendations are too light and they believe more charges should have been brought for the underlying conduct. The judge can always impose a lower sentence. It's unusual for a judge to reject a plea deal if the sentencing recommendations are too harsh. Those sentencing reports may include more detail about Biden's taxes and his failure to pay them, but may be filed under seal, Rahmani said. But the judge can order one if they want. Since the tax charges are misdemeanors, there won't automatically be pre-sentencing reports prepared by probation services, according to Neama Rahmani, the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers. But it's still the judge's discretion to give whatever sentence they think is appropriate. With a plea deal, prosecutors bind themselves to recommend a particular sentence. The place where judges get to flex their muscles is during the sentencing process. ![]() "It's gonna be pretty simple - Hunter Biden stands up and says, 'I did X, Y, and Z, and did those things constitute a violation of 26 United States Code 7203.'" The judge could impose a higher sentence "The only thing they're really gonna be looking at is if the admitted conduct matches the charged conduct," Sarah Krissoff, a defense attorney at Day Pitney LLP and former Manhattan federal prosecutor, told Insider. In the case of the gun charge, for example, the one-paragraph information says Biden unlawfully possessed a Colt Cobra revolver for 11 days in October 2018 while he was also addicted to or used a controlled substance. ![]() The only role judges have in plea agreements like this, they said, is to make sure the charges match Biden's conduct, and to make sure Biden understands his constitutional rights.īiden is pleading guilty to charges in a document called an information, which briefly describes what he did. It's extremely unlikely that the judge who'll oversee Biden's case will reject the deal, three different prosecutors-turned-defense-attorneys told Insider. Last year, federal judges rejected plea deals for one of Ahmaud Arbury's killers and a married couple who tried to sell America's nuclear secrets, each deeming the agreed-upon sentences as too light. Most plea deals skate through court without any problems, but judges do occasionally reject plea deals in high-profile cases. The plea deal, however, still must be approved by a judge. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. ![]()
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