President Biden’s Justice Department is urging a federal appeals court to uphold the conviction of a black college student who admitted to using marijuana while in possession of a gun, arguing the toker “couldn’t have put their gun away” properly — in a case that could have the same effect against the first child Hunter Biden.
The Philadelphia-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considering the case, has jurisdiction over Delaware, where President Biden’s surviving son faces federal charges for possessing a gun while a crack cocaine user after he rejected a probation-only plea deal which includes tax charges.
Lawyers for Erik Harris, now 25, are seeking to overturn the ban on drug users owning firearms, arguing that the Second Amendment prevents the restriction and that their client has been unfairly prosecuted while more powerful people have not.
The DOJ argued in a court filing Wednesday that the ban is necessary for public safety reasons.
“Harris claims he lost one of his guns (potentially at a bar) the same evening he smoked weed and got drunk,” wrote Andrew Noll, a DC-based attorney with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Users are unlikely to put down their weapons before using drugs and retrieve them only after regaining clarity,” Noll wrote. “And it’s not clear how the government can reasonably administer a regime that allows confiscation only within hours of someone being drunk.”
President Biden’s Justice Department is urging a federal appeals court to uphold the conviction of a black college student who used marijuana while possessing a firearm.REUTERS/Brittany Hosea-Small
Alcohol users can own firearms and gun rights activists argue that pot users in particular should be allowed to do so as well.
Harris was a junior at the Pittsburgh-area college at the California University of Pennsylvania when he reported to police in April 2019 that one of his three guns was missing — less than a year after Hunter Biden’s girlfriend, Hallie Biden — married his late husband. Beau’s brother — tossed his newly purchased gun into a trash can outside the grocery store, sparking a failed search for it.
In Harris’s case, police busted the suspected thief, but later charged him with illegally buying three guns because he — like Hunter — said he was not an illegal drug user at the time of the purchase, despite admitting to police that he regularly uses marijuana.
Biden’s son Hunter faces a similar charge of possessing a gun while using cocaine.
Harris pleaded guilty on the condition that he be allowed to plead and seek probation.
Instead, he was sentenced to six months in prison followed by six months of house arrest and two and a half years of probation.
Harris was remanded to prison on March 3, 2022, and was released on July 29 of that year, according to online records, meaning he ended up spending nearly five months in prison.
The plea deal offered by the Justice Department to Hunter Biden in June, on the other hand, would have given the 53-year-old eldest son just two years of probation for his gun violations and for defrauding Uncle Sam of millions in taxes on foreign income.
Erik Harris’ appeal has the potential to impact Hunter Biden’s case since the Philadelphia-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals has Delaware jurisdiction.
Hunter Biden rejected the “sweetheart” deal at a dramatic court hearing on July 26 – with his legal team arguing that the deal should have included broader immunity for past criminal conduct.
Special counsel David Weiss, who had offered Hunter a plea deal, recently impaneled a Los Angeles grand jury to consider the tax-related charges.
Harris is represented by the Pittsburgh federal defender’s office and his attorney argues he was trained.
“Police and prosecutors can make subjective calls about who among the tens of millions of Americans who admit to being current illicit drug users they consider to be ‘illegal users’ in need of a criminal conviction,” assistant federal public defender Renee Pietropaolo wrote in the filing. court last year.
“Public figures like Bill Maher and Joe Rogan, a podcaster who openly smokes marijuana and owns a firearm, are unlikely to be prosecuted,” he wrote.
“Erik Harris, a young black man eligible for court-appointed counsel, now has a felony conviction on his record and he will no longer be allowed to exercise his Second Amendment rights.”
The lawyer continued: “Disarming a large (and growing) number of Americans from owning firearms, even in their homes, because they use marijuana significantly violates the individual right under the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms.”
Pietropaolo did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Oral arguments in Harris’ appeal are scheduled for Dec. 8. Hunter Biden is expected to go on trial in his gun case early next year.
Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to federal charges after rejecting a plea deal in July.REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Marijuana remains federally illegal and President Biden is among a dwindling number of elected Democrats who want it to remain so.
Currently, 24 states, three territories and Washington, DC, allow recreational use of the drug under local law. Pennsylvania, where Harris is charged, is not among the 24, but it does allow medical use.
Cocaine has not been legalized by any state and it is unclear whether the ruling in the Harris case will apply to all illegal drugs or more narrowly on marijuana.
Biden, who has called for stricter gun laws, has been put in an awkward spot by his son’s legal troubles. As president, he has the constitutional right to pardon his son and previous presidents have pardoned relatives during their last days in office.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
