Appeals court rejects Hunter Biden request to dismiss gun charges

Hunter Biden's federal gun case is set to go to trial early next month after an appeals court denied his request to dismiss his charges.

In a ruling Thursday, a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court's rejection of his motions to dismiss is not appealable before final judgment.

U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika, who is overseeing Biden's Delaware gun case, also confirmed a June 3 start date for a jury trial. Noreika later denied another motion from Biden to dismiss the case on Second Amendment grounds.

Biden can still take his appeal to the full bench of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals or to the Supreme Court. His attorney Abbe Lowell has said they will continue to seek a dismissal.

The appeals court ruling means that Biden is set to the be first child of a sitting president to undergo a criminal trial. He was indicted in September on charges related to possessing a gun while on narcotics. The indictment accuses him of falsely declaring on a form that he was not using illegal drugs when he bought a revolver in 2018. He has pleaded not guilty.

Biden has also been a central figure in House Republicans’ impeachment efforts against his father. The president's only living son, he has spoken openly about his struggles with drug addiction, which he says the GOP has been “weaponizing” to hurt the president.

Biden is also facing a late June trial in his federal tax case. He has also pleaded not guilty to those charges.

This article was originally published on MSNBC.com