Hunter Biden seeks relief from appellate courts following dismissal refusal

Hunter Biden is asking appellate courts in both of his criminal cases to consider dismissing his tax and gun charges, according to court documents.

Biden asked the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday to hear his arguments for dismissal after a judge in Delaware denied Biden’s requests to drop three felonies related to a 2018 gun purchase.

Biden had argued to Judge Maryellen Noreika that his charges should be dropped by claiming that a since-withdrawn plea agreement was actually active and had immunized him from being charged; that special counsel David Weiss, who is overseeing Biden’s prosecutions, was inappropriately appointed to his position; and that Weiss violated the separation of powers by charging Biden only after House Republicans demanded that he do so.

Noreika, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, denied Biden’s requests on all three fronts.

Noreika was the judge who initially raised questions about the scope of the proposed plea agreement between Biden and Weiss last summer. She found the agreement unusual and zeroed in on a dispute between prosecutors and defense attorneys about provisions of the agreement, leading to the agreement’s eventual collapse.

Biden argued that a portion of the plea deal, called a “diversion agreement,” was still in effect, but Weiss countered that it was not because a probation officer had not signed off on it. Noreika agreed with Weiss.

“Relevant language unambiguously requires Probation to approve the agreement,” Noreika wrote in a memorandum explaining why she would not dismiss Biden’s charges on those grounds.

Noreika also said the attorney general’s appointment of Weiss to the position of special counsel was done in the same manner as at least six other recent special counsels and was statutorily sound.

Lastly, Noreika found that Biden’s separation of powers argument was “not credible.”

“Members of the Legislative Branch pressuring Executive Branch officials or the Special Counsel to act is fundamentally different than actually making charging decisions or influencing them,” the judge wrote.

Biden also asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week to dismiss nine tax charges he is facing in California, including failure to pay taxes and filing false returns.

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Biden had made eight requests to Judge Mark Scarsi, another Trump appointee, to drop the charges. The arguments included the same ones he used in his Delaware case, and Scarsi denied all of them.

While the appellate courts now weigh Biden’s requests, the cases are still proceeding on a normal timeline at the district court level, and both trials are expected to take place in June. The scheduling could change if the appellate courts decide to halt the proceedings.