Hunter Biden’s legal team asked the federal judge presiding over his criminal gun trial to toss out the case in three motions filed on Friday. Those motions present legal arguments for the court to consider apart from the factual questions that could be put before the jury as early as Monday should Hunter Biden opt against taking the stand to testify in his own defense.
Here’s your lawsplainer on the three motions to dismiss.
Motion to Dismiss for Insufficient Evidence
The first motion the lawyers filed on behalf of Hunter Biden was the standard motion for acquittal that argued prosecutors failed to present sufficient evidence to convict the president’s son of the crimes charge. Defense lawyers routinely — and by default — make a motion for acquittal because otherwise, the defendant cannot challenge the sufficiency of the evidence on appeal.
A motion for acquittal tests whether the government has presented sufficient evidence to convict the defendant. As the Supreme Court has explained, “Sufficiency review essentially addresses whether ‘the government’s case was so lacking that it should not have even been submitted to the jury.’ … The reviewing court considers only the ‘legal’ question ‘whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’”
Given this standard, it is extremely rare for a court to grant a motion for acquittal, and there is little chance in Hunter Biden’s case
