Hunter Biden appears in Wilmington court ahead of looming gun trial. Here's what happened

Hunter Biden appeared in federal court in Wilmington Friday for what is scheduled as his final pretrial hearing before his trial on felony gun charges early next month.

Federal Judge Maryellen Noreika issued a raft of rulings that will dictate what evidence prosecutors may introduce and how defense attorneys may question that evidence in front of jurors at the Delaware trial, the first for a child of a sitting U.S. President.

One ruling centered on which definition of drug user is relevant to charges and solidified what prosecutors must prove at trial to convict the president’s son of three firearms felonies based on his purchase of a revolver at a Brandywine Hundred gun shop in October 2018.

Prosecutors claimed that Biden lied when he checked a box stating he was not an unlawful user of or addicted to controlled substances when he filled out a form to buy the .38 special from the shop. Lying on the form is a felony. Biden has been frank about his struggles with addiction and has said he's been sober since 2019.

Each charge has a little nuance, but generally prosecutors have said in court documents that they need to convince jurors that Biden made a false statement when he filled out the form and that he knew the statement was false. So they need to show the jury Biden filled out the form and that he was a drug user or addicted and knew he was at the time.

They intend to do that by presenting the form as well as evidence that Biden was in the throes of crack cocaine addiction for years when he purchased the gun. They intend to show that with text messages, excerpts from his memoir and testimony from his exes, including the widow of his brother, according to court documents.

However, Biden's attorneys have argued that in order to prove that Biden made a false statement − that he was addicted to drugs or was an unlawful drug user − prosecutors have to present evidence that he "actually used, and knew he used, drugs at the time he purchased the gun," and for a separate charge, must prove that he "was intoxicated" at the time he was found with the gun.

RECENT: Hunter Biden is fighting what the meaning of 'drug addict' is as gun trial looms

They made this argument citing shifts in how the U.S. Supreme Court has viewed such firearm restrictions. However, prosecutors argued the relevant definitions dictate they need to simply show that the "unlawful use has occurred recently enough to indicate that the individual is actively engaged in such conduct."

Norieka said the appropriate legal precedents dictate that prosecutors are correct in barring Biden's defense from telling the jury prosecutors must prove drug use the day of the purchase.

Hints at Biden's defense?

In court filings, Abbe Lowell has signaled part of Biden's defense might be whether he knew he was addicted to drugs.

“Someone, like Mr. Biden who had just completed an 11-day rehabilitation program and lived with a sober companion after that, could surely believe he was not a present tense user or addict,” Lowell wrote in court documents earlier this week.

He has moved to admit testimony from an expert doctor who can testify regarding a person with addiction’s understanding of and state of denial about their own addiction. However, prosecutors have argued that Lowell filed paperwork to admit the expert testimony too late. Norekia delayed a decision on that motion.

She did rule on motions that preclude Biden's defense from discussing how Delaware State Police authorities and Department of Justice prosecutors didn't bring similar firearms charges against Biden when authorities were alerted to the gun's purchase by Biden after it was tossed in a garbage can outside the Janssen's Market grocery store in Greenville five years ago.

She also set up the potential that there could be an in-court discussion about the provenance of text messages taken from Biden's laptop and turned over to Republican and police authorities by John Paul Mac Isaac, the owner of the former laptop repair shop in Wilmington's Trolley Square neighborhood. Prosecutors intend to introduce messages from the laptop as part of their case.

Lowell argued that Mac Isaac or others could have compromised data between receiving it and turning it over to police authorities. Prosecutor Derek Hines said messages derived from the laptop will be corroborated by witnesses and other evidence and that much of the communication data to be used at trial was subpoenaed directly from Apple.

Ultimately, Noreika ruled if there are challenges about particular messages introduced as evidence at trial, it will be handled then.

When is Hunter Biden's gun trial set to begin?

Trial is set to begin June 3 and last through the following week. Several of the motions Noreika considered Friday included discussion of whether Biden would take the stand, something defense attorneys need not decide until after prosecutors present their evidence.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, though Biden is likely to get a shorter sentence if convicted.

Separately Biden faces tax evasion charges in a California case now set to go to trial this fall.

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Hunter Biden case: Judge issues orders dictating evidence, arguments