'Bad news for the prosecution': Legal analyst says jury could do 'little bit of nullifying' in Biden case

11 June 2024

After the defense and prosecution rested their cases, jury deliberations in Hunter Biden's federal criminal trial got underway on Monday, June 10.

President Joe Biden's son is facing three gun-related charges, and prosecutors, during the trial, brought out Hunter Biden's history of substance abuse. The president has said that if his son is found guilty, he will not grant him a pardon.

CNN's Jennifer Rodgers offered legal analysis of the trial during a June 11 broadcast, arguing that sympathy for Hunter Biden or a long deliberation could be "bad news for the prosecution."

Rodgers told host John Berman, "The risk to the prosecution is that people really sympathize with Hunter Biden. There's a narrow pathway for them to find him not guilty, but I think it does require them to really have sympathy for him to get there."

The CNN legal analyst continued, "And so, I would have done it by saying, 'You see, he has a lot of support. We all know addiction is a terrible thing. You might find yourself sympathizing with him, but your job as jurors is to follow the law. You have taken an oath that requires you to put aside your sympathy and to look at the facts here.' That's what I would have done instead of kind of, 'Point: They are not evidence.' I think that's handling it the wrong way."

Rodgers added, however, that jurors will have to do "a little bit of nullifying here" in order to find Hunter Biden not guilty on all three charges.

Rodgers pointed out that a long deliberation typically benefits "the defense."

Rodgers told Berman, "I mean, the longer it goes, the more likely that it's hung. It's a simple case, not very many witnesses."

Watch the full video below or at this link.

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