Hunter Biden’s gun trial judge, Maryellen Noreika, recently delivered a one-year sentence to a defendant in a similar gun case.
The case could be a window into how Noreika might sentence Hunter if a jury finds him guilty of gun violations.
Hunter is charged with one count of false statement in the purchase of a firearm, one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance, and one count of false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer.
Hunter used crack when he purchased the firearm, according to a wide variety of photos from the time on his abandoned laptop, and the gun was found discarded in a public trash can next to a school. The Secret Service allegedly intervened in the investigation of that incident.
Noreika sentenced Zhi Dong for lying on government forms about his address when he bought guns at Delaware gun stores on May 2, 2024.
Dong, who pleaded guilty, admitted to living in Maryland while claiming to live in Delaware.
Dong apparently drove the purchased guns to California to a gun store, which was “indicative of trafficking firearms, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.
The defense asked for a six-month sentence, but Noreika gave Dong one year.
“When you see a judge who is willing to basically double the sentencing recommendation of the prosecution, then that’s a little bit concerning, obviously, for any defense attorney,” Peter Tilem, told Politico, a defense lawyer who handled gun cases.
Read more about Hunter’s gun trial here.
The case is United States v. Hunter Biden, No. 24-1703, in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
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Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
