Federal Lawyer Michael Leonard discusses Hunter Biden plea agreement on WGN Radio 720 on Saturday July 29, 2023. As Mike explains to Jon Hansen of WGN radio’s Jon Hansen, Hunter Biden is ultimately still expected to plead guilty. However, during Hunter Biden’s most recent court appearance, what was expected to be a change of plea hearing turned into a back to the drawing board moment for federal prosecutors and Mr. Biden’s defense team. The government and Mr. Biden thought they had entered into a biding written plea agreement that the Court would rubber stamp. That plea agreement called for Mr. Biden to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax counts. That agreement also called for the government to recommend a sentence of probation – in the coming months at Mr. Biden’s sentencing hearing on those counts. However, the government and Mr. Biden had also reached on a “diversion agreement,” pursuant to which a felony gun charge against Mr. Biden – arising out him making a false statement on an application for a firearm – would be dismissed as long as Mr. Biden complied with certain conditions for a period of two years. However, that diversion agreement contained a provision that appeared to provide Mr. Biden with immunity from all other possible federal charges, including presumably those relating to his foreign business dealings. It was highly unusual that provision was not contained within the parties’ plea agreement. More importantly, the government and Mr. Biden’s defense counsel could not even agree as to whether that provision did or did not provide Mr. Biden with blanket immunity. Accordingly, on that basis alone, the Court found that the parties did not even have a meeting of the minds with respect to the terms of their plea agreement. In addition, the Court found that the term of the diversion agreement that called for the Court, rather than the U.S. Attorney’s Office, to determine whether Mr. Biden satisfied its terms, was not only out of the norm but likely unconstitutional. All that said, the parties will most likely ultimately end up back before the Court for Mr. Bident to plead guilty – but without any form of blanket or other immunity and with a revised diversion agreement. This likely means that Mr. Biden’s legal woes are not over, as it appears likely that additional federal charges may be brought against him arising out of his foreign business dealings. Here is the link to WGN:
https://wgnradio.com/lets-get-legal/what-happens-next-in-the-hunter-biden-case/
Written by Michael Leonard
Leonard Trial Lawyers
July 30,2023