{"id":1984004,"date":"2023-07-27T11:13:02","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T15:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-a-federal-judge-turned-the-tables-on-hunter-bidens-sweetheart-plea-deal\/"},"modified":"2023-07-27T11:18:24","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T15:18:24","slug":"how-a-federal-judge-turned-the-tables-on-hunter-bidens-sweetheart-plea-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-a-federal-judge-turned-the-tables-on-hunter-bidens-sweetheart-plea-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge Turns Tables on Hunter Biden&#8217;s Plea Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-a-federal-judge-turned-the-tables-on-hunter-bidens-sweetheart-plea-deal%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1984004&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>Hunter Biden arrived in a Delaware\u200d federal court on Wednesday morning\u200d expecting that, in a few short hours, he would \u200dwalk out \u2063a \u200cfree man with\u200c full immunity from prosecution for an \u2064exceedingly wide range of alleged\u200b criminal \u200dconduct, ranging from gun and drug charges to\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nolte-the-corporate-media-owe-emma-jo-morris-an-apology\/\" title=\"Nolte: The Corporate Media Owe Emma-Jo Morris an Apology\">foreign influence peddling<\/a>. His expectation was that his deal would be insulated from\u2063 challenges from the\u2064 presiding judge, or from a prosecutorial change of heart under a\u200b future administration. His expectation was that his\u200b legal ordeals were \u2062coming to a close.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, U.S. District Court Judge \u200cMaryellen Noreika picked apart his\u200d plea deal\u200b with surgical precision, exposing its legal \u200ccontradictions, and upbraiding both defense counsel and the Department of Justice for structuring an unprecedented deal that in her view \u2014 and mine \u2014 was illegal and unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1989123136\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-9947f43b36ef61beacfdb8baa08b6fdc fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-9947f43b36ef61beacfdb8baa08b6fdc\"><\/div>\n<p>I have reviewed the hearing transcript from Wednesday\u2019s aborted change \u2062of plea hearing,\u2064 as well as the agreed-to plea agreement and pretrial \u200ddiversion\u2062 agreement\u200b that Hunter\u200b thought were his\u200c salvation. \u2064I\u2063 have spoken to individuals\u2062 who were in \u2063the courtroom and witnessed Judge \u2062Noreika\u2019s upturning of the\u2063 apple cart. Based on my experience \u200cas a federal prosecutor,\u200d and based on\u2062 everything that I have seen \u2064and\u2063 heard, here is what I believe\u200b to be the story of Hunter\u2019s blown plea.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An Attempt to Avoid Judicial Oversight<\/h2>\n<p>Typically, if the government is\u200d offering a \u2062defendant to either drop charges\u200c or decline to bring new charges in return for the defendant\u2019s guilty \u200bplea, the\u2063 plea is structured under Federal Rule of\u2064 Criminal Procedure \u206311(c)(1)(A). Pleas under this subsection are subject to judicial approval. So if a judge believes the government\u2019s decision to decline prosecution or dismiss charges in return for a plea to other\u2062 charges\u200d is unjust, the \u200bjudge can\u200b reject \u2062the plea agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The deal reached between the DOJ and Hunter seems to \u2063have been that, in return for his pleading\u2063 guilty to\u200c the two tax misdemeanor\u2062 charges that were the \u200csubject of his plea, the government would agree not to prosecute Hunter for\u200b unlawful possession of a firearm, \u200dForeign Agent \u2063Registration Act (FARA) violations, and other crimes related to his\u2063 international \u2064business schemes in\u200c China and Ukraine with Bohai and Burisma, among others. In any \u2063normal \u2063case, \u200cthis would have been structured as a \u200bRule 11(c)(1)(A) plea, which would have made it subject to judicial approval.<\/p>\n<p>In Hunter\u2019s case, though, \u200dthe\u200b parties were apparently worried that Judge Norieka might reject such a \u2062broad grant of \u200bimmunity from \u2064prosecution\u200c in return for such minor guilty pleas. As a result, Hunter\u2019s plea was structured under a different provision, Rule 11(c)(1)(B), which\u200c is usually just a plea agreement in return \u2062for a nonbinding sentencing recommendation, and which does not provide any\u2063 ability of \u2063a court to intervene or reject the plea.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-edf6204bde2243816ad9143a752e90fc fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-edf6204bde2243816ad9143a752e90fc\"><\/div>\n<p>To insulate Hunter\u2019s plea from judicial\u200c oversight \u2014 and the possibility of\u200d judicial rejection \u2014 Hunter\u2019s lawyers and the Department of Justice included no mention of the agreement not to \u2062prosecute Hunter\u200b for further crimes in the plea agreement. Instead, they buried it \u2063in a separate pretrial \u200bdiversion agreement, which they \u200dargued the judge was not a\u2062 party to\u2064 and therefore lacked the power to reject.<\/p>\n<p>Publicly,\u2063 this \u200c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-department-charges-hunter-biden\/\" title=\"Justice Department charges Hunter Biden\">pretrial diversion agreement<\/a> was described as applying just to the unlawful possession of a firearm charge. This\u2064 was a wild mischaracterization of \u2062the agreement. Included in the agreement was a provision that bound the United States to\u2062 not \u200bprosecute Biden \u201cfor any federal crimes encompassed by\u200b . . \u200b. the Statement\u200d of Facts\u201d attached to the Plea Agreement.<\/p>\n<p>The referred-to Statement of Facts includes:\u2063 Hunter\u2019s \u200drole with and compensation from \u2062Burisma; Hunter\u2019s\u2063 role with and\u200b compensation from Chinese private equity firm Bohai, Harvest, and\u2063 Rosemont; Hunter\u2019s holding company \u200bOwasco; Hunter\u2019s consulting \u200bfirm Rosemont\u2062 Seneca; \u2062and many other aspects of \u200cHunter\u2019s controversial web of \u2062business relationships.<\/p>\n<p>In\u2063 other words, if Hunter were to complete \u200dprobation, this pretrial diversion agreement would prevent DOJ \u200cfrom ever bringing charges against Hunter\u2062 for any crimes relating to\u2062 the offense conduct \u200bdiscussed in the plea agreement, which was purposely \u2062written to include his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-a-federal-judge-turned-the-tables-on-hunter-bidens-sweetheart-plea-deal\/\" title=\"Federal Judge Turns Tables on Hunter Biden's Plea Deal\">foreign influence peddling\u200d operations<\/a> in China, Ukraine, and \u200celsewhere.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4cf8edfbe7b5a39897f584d720c055c9 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4cf8edfbe7b5a39897f584d720c055c9\"><\/div>\n<p>Hunter \u200band DOJ put the\u200c facts in the plea agreement, but\u200b put their non-prosecution agreement in the pretrial diversion agreement, effectively hiding the full \u200cscope \u200cof what DOJ \u200dwas offering and\u2064 Hunter was obtaining \u200bthrough these proceedings. Because\u2063 this allowed them \u200dto, in their view, structure the plea agreement as a Rule 11(c)(1)(B) plea, it insulated the \u2062agreement from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/citing-ccp-influence-biden-warns-americans-about-doing-business-in-hong-kong\/\" title=\"Citing CCP Influence, Biden Warns Americans About Doing Business In Hong Kong\">judicial oversight<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>They went even further,\u2063 though. In an\u200d apparent effort \u200cto\u2063 shield Hunter \u200bfrom a new \u200cadministration, which might try to throw out the pretrial diversion agreement by claiming \u200dthat Hunter had violated his probation terms, \u200bthey included a provision\u2064 \u2014 \u200dwhich \u2064they admitted was entirely novel, with no\u2063 precedent \u2014 stating that the government \u2063could not deem Hunter to \u2062have \u200cviolated the agreement without first proving up\u200d violations \u2064in front of the judge. So the agreement they \u2064stated the judge had no role\u200d in and therefore no \u200dability to reject, also placed the judge in a position of having to sign \u200coff on any future prosecution.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An Unconstitutional Agreement<\/h2>\n<p>Judge Noreika smelled a\u200d rat. She understood that the lawyers were trying to \u2062paint her into a corner and hide the ball while forcing her to rubber-stamp their absurd bargain. Instead \u2063of \u200cbeing that rubberstamp though, she backed DOJ and Hunter\u2019s \u200blawyers\u2064 into a corner by pulling all the details out \u2062into the open, explaining the very serious legal and constitutional issues with this unprecedented method of structuring \u200dwhat should have been a \u200dsimple plea agreement, and demanding that the lawyers explain themselves, \u200bwhich they simply couldn\u2019t \u2062to her\u2063 satisfaction.<\/p>\n<p>DOJ, \u200battempting to\u200c save face\u2063 and save\u2063 its case, stated on the\u200b record\u2062 that the investigation into Hunter was ongoing and that\u2062 Hunter remained susceptible to\u200c prosecution\u2063 under FARA.\u200c Hunter\u2019s lawyers exploded. \u2063They clearly\u2062 believed that FARA was covered under the \u200cdeal because as \u200bwritten, the pretrial diversion agreement language was broad enough to cover it. When \u2063the parties attempted to \u2062paper \u200cover \u2062the \u200cmany issues raised, Judge \u200bNoreika was \u2064not satisfied. She demanded extensive\u200b briefing on the constitutional and legal\u200d issues \u200draised during the hearing, \u2064leaving no chance\u200d that Hunter will\u200d be\u2062 able\u200b to wrap\u2063 up \u2063this case with any degree of rapidity.<\/p>\n<p>And so here we are. Hunter\u2019s lawyers \u200band DOJ are going to go off and try\u200b to pull together a new set of agreements, likely narrower \u2063and less novel in its arrangement to satisfy Judge Noreika and move the case. They will have to explain their conduct in a public briefing which may shed some light on the obviously tortured\u2063 negotiations that led us\u200c to this place. \u2063And, fortunately, the chances of any agreement proceeding with the\u200b kind of blanket immunity the parties had in mind as they walked into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/have-the-courts-been-compromised-too-where-are-the-righteous-judges-supreme-court-slows-president-trumps-pa-case\/\" title=\"Have the Courts Been Compromised Too?  Where are the Righteous Judges?  Supreme Court Slows President Trump\u2019s PA Case!\">court yesterday<\/a> are essentially nil at this point.<\/p>\n<p>Hunter may in fact have to face \u2063up \u2064to his crimes one\u200b day.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-38f114fb279a34c4bc924c0dddab5ba8 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-38f114fb279a34c4bc924c0dddab5ba8\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hunter Biden arrived in a Delaware court, hopeful to leave as a free man with immunity from prosecution. He anticipated protection from a broad spectrum of alleged crimes, including drug offenses, gun charges, and foreign influence peddling. His deal seemed promising, but only time would tell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2124,"featured_media":1984005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1984004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1984004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1984005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1984004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1984004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1984004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}