MSNBC legal analyst Danny Cevallos said Wednesday that Hunter Biden not being charged with felonies is unusually “rare.”
Hunter appeared in court Wednesday to likely plead guilty to two felony misdemeanor charges for failing to pay taxes, which would allow him to avoid jail time for a separate gun charge should he meet certain conditions.
Cevallos said Hunter’s case is a standout, however, because most misdemeanor charges are accompanied with a felony charge.
Cevallos explained that Hunter will likely enter pre-trial diversion, which puts him on probation. It also means he likely will not face any jail time.
“The reason it’s controversial in this case is this: in state court, pre-trial diversion happens all the time, you see it for DUI cases, low-level cases — in federal court, it happens virtually never. I’m not even aware personally of either any of my cases or any of my colleagues cases where pre-trial diversion has ever been offered in the federal system,” Cevallos said. “So, no matter how you cut it, pre-trial diversion as an offer is very rare in federal court.” (RELATED: Judge Threatens To Sanction Hunter Biden’s Lawyers After Team Member Allegedly ‘Misrepresented’ Her Identity To Court)
Cevallos said the judge could reject Hunter’s plea agreement.
“If you are charged with misdemeanors, you have a pretty good chance of getting a probation only sentence but the reality is this: I am aware of virtually no cases in the federal system where someone is charged with misdemeanor-only crimes. Misdemeanors by themselves simply are- they are just a rare animal in federal court. They are usually accompanied by several felonies, all of which will land you in prison ordinarily, even if you’re a first time offender.”
Co-host Willie Geist then asked if there is any credence to claims that Hunter got off easy.
Cevallos called Hunter’s deal “amazing.”
“If the government is going to start handing out pretrial diversion like this, I am going to get in line because it is an amazing deal. Like I said, it is just as good as not guilty. You can get your record expunged,” Cevallos said. “So if the government is in the business of handing out pretrial diversion, consider my hand raised … Pretrial diversion for a gun case in federal court is an amazing deal. I don’t care how you slice it and if you disagree with me, show me the statistics of people charged under that particular statute of percentages people who get pretrial diversion for gun cases.”
Cevallos chalked up the “amazing” deal to likely good lawyering.