Attorney Abbe Lowell has cited the “exceedingly difficult” task of preparing for two bi-coastal trials in the same month, while also wishing to attend a friend’s funeral, in a request to delay Hunter Biden’s California tax evasion trial set for June 20 until the fall.
The ex parte application, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeks to postpone the tax evasion trial, currently set for June 20, to September 5. Alternatively, Mr. Lowell requests a status conference earlier than the currently scheduled May 29 conference to address the matter.
Following recent setbacks for Mr. Biden, who lost his bids to halt proceedings and pursue appeals in his California tax evasion and Delaware gun cases, his lead attorney, Mr. Lowell, now finds himself in the “exceedingly difficult” position of preparing for trials in both cases, which will proceed unless delayed, according to the filing.
Among those difficulties, Mr. Biden has encountered “unusual delays” in securing expert witnesses, who need to be provided “with massive amounts of documents to review.” Time has also been needed to “speak with witnesses in various states,” according to the filing.
“These difficulties, coupled with the ongoing appellate litigation and Delaware trial preparation, have impeded counsel’s efforts to provide competent and effective counsel to Mr. Biden—and not for want of working as hard as possible,” the filing states.
Mr. Biden’s lawyers argue that failing to grant their request for a continuance would deny them “the reasonable time necessary for effective preparation and representation.”
The family of Mr. Lowell’s “decades-long, dear friend” requested that he attend the funeral, and Mr. Lowell “sincerely wishes to attend,” according to the filing.
“Given all of the associated filings, preparation, and travel involved for the Delaware trial, much of which overlap with the current pretrial deadlines in this matter, it will be exceedingly difficult (even if he does not attend his friend’s funeral) for Mr. Biden’s lead trial counsel to appear in person on May 29, 2024, to argue for a trial continuance,” the filing reads.
The application was made on an ex parte basis, meaning it was made by Mr. Biden’s lawyers without notifying Special Counsel David Weiss, who is prosecuting the case. The reason the filing was made ex parte is because the pretrial deadlines ordered by the court are either imminent or have already passed while “Mr. Biden was awaiting a decision on his interlocutory appeal” to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Mr. Biden had also tried to appeal his Delaware criminal gun case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, but the panel rejected it in a double blow for President Joe Biden’s son.
Both rejections by the Third and Ninth circuits mean that each case will go to trial in June. The Delaware trial is set for June 3.
In an apparent error, the filing points out that the June 3 trial is “just four days before the May 29 conference,” when it is five days after. The proximity of the proceedings was highlighted as the the two cases overlap. One trial takes place on the East Coast and the other on the West Coast.
The Epoch Times contacted Mr. Lowell for comment and clarification.
“In addition, the various pretrial dates in this case and Mr. Hunter’s Delaware criminal case now overlap, and the Delaware trial, still scheduled to occur on June 3, 2024, is likely to carry over through the week of June 10 without taking into consideration jury deliberations,” the filing reads.
A California grand jury returned a nine-count indictment against Mr. Biden, whom prosecutors accuse of funding a lavish lifestyle of drugs and prostitutes rather than paying his taxes.
The latest request comes a day after President Joe Biden’s son lost two legal maneuvers: one to halt the case and the other to appeal it. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s dismissal of his motions invalidated his attempt to halt proceedings, clearing the way for the case to go to trial as originally scheduled.
Mr. Weiss is expected to file a response to the ex parte application by May 17.
