Hunter Biden facing 'real possibility' of prison time because he refused to plead guilty: Jonathan Turley

Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley explained why Hunter Biden is likely to get jail time from his gun trial conviction and how his defense attorneys failed in the historic case.

JONATHAN TURLEY: What's fascinating about the decision to go forward with the trial is that it put at risk… the chance that Hunter Biden could very well be sentenced to jail. I've said all along that I believe that there is a real possibility here of a prison sentence. The best shot he had to reduce that likelihood was to plead guilty, which is why, all the way up to the beginning of this trial, I was writing, ‘You need to plead guilty.’ I mean, this is a lead pipe cinch of a case. You can get a two-level departure, as it's called, to plead guilty, and that would make it easier for the court to give you probation. He decided to put on a nullification defense, and it failed, but he then lost that departure. And so the judge is going to be in a tough position here. She has sentenced people to jail for this offense. This article was written by Fox News staff.

There are reports out today that many of the Biden family believed that a Delaware jury would not convict Hunter Biden. This is, after all, Biden Town. This is their hometown. This is the son of the favorite son of Delaware, and so I think that there were some people in the family that were shocked by the quick verdict. In my view, this was not worth the risk because this is not someone the defense counsel is going to want to see given a prison stint. But the best way to avoid that is to plead guilty. Get those points with the judge. Remember, this judge watched that sweetheart deal fall apart in her courtroom. She triggered it. She simply asked the prosecutor, ‘Have you ever seen a deal like this?’ And he said no, and the whole thing just burst into flames. And then she sat there and watched them put on an obvious nullification defense, trying to get the jury just to ignore the evidence. None of that's going to play well with the judge in determining whether to sentence Hunter to jail, and the guidelines under the federal sentencing guidelines suggest that such a sentence is warranted. Now they're discretionary. The judge doesn't have to follow them, but none of that helps when it comes to that decision by the judge.

The first son was found guilty on all charges Tuesday in his historic criminal case focused on his purchase of a handgun in 2018.