When everyone's met a Biden in Delaware, how hard will it be to find a jury?
There's a jokey saying in some circles here in Delaware, which points out the ubiquitousness of President Joe Biden in the First State: "If you haven't met Joe Biden, you're not really a Delawarean."
In the nearly 55 years since the glad-handing politician first ran for office as a New Castle County councilman, no other Delawarean has been more visible as he climbed to the highest office in the land.
And, most likely, none have met or taken photographs with as many fellow Delawareans as the omnipresent former senator and vice president, especially in New Castle County.
He's been everywhere over the years from official events as fundraisers and campaign stops to more everyday spots like Pep Boys, worshiping at St. Joseph on the Brandywine or his taking in his grandchildren's flag football games.
Throw in his educator wife (and first lady) Jill, four children and seven grandchildren, it can sometimes feel harder not to have met a Biden than to have had an interaction with one as a Delawarean.
Starting today, that dynamic will likely be on display in a downtown Wilmington federal courtroom as jury selection begins in the trial of Biden's son Hunter over a trio of gun charges.
Potential jurors won't be asked if they have had any interaction with the Biden family, according to the court's proposed voir dire in the case, but they will be asked about any connections to the Bidens.
"Are you, any member of your immediate family, or close friends acquaintances with Robert Hunter Biden or any member of his family?" reads the seventh of 47 questions listed on the jury selection document.
"Good luck getting that jury," cracks Dori Jacobson, a Greenville resident who lives not far from President Biden's residence.
While a "yes" answer to the jury question would likely not mean an automatic dismissal, depending on the circumstances, it would lead to more questioning, including asking whether the juror believes they could be impartial.
They know the Bidens and say they couldn't be impartial
Karen Miller of Wilmington is among those who wouldn't make the cut if jury duty landed her in the downtown Wilmington courtroom for Hunter Biden's trial.
And it's not just because the former AstraZeneca director has a selfie with President Biden or has spotted him having dinner at Wilmington's Piccolina Toscana or shopping at Greenville's Janssen's Market. "They're just kind of everywhere," she notes.
It's due to the fact Miller, who ran the pharmaceutical company's Breast Cancer Awareness Month program, has been involved with Jill Biden's fundraisers for the Biden Breast Health Initiative, the non-profit she founded in 1993.
Not only was Miller at Biden breast health fundraisers held at spots such as Wilmington's Chez Nicole Hair and Nail Salon or Greenville's BBC Tavern and Grill, but she has visited Delaware's most famous couple at their Greenville home and the U.S. Naval Observatory, the official residence of the vice president, when Biden was serving under President Barack Obama.
While Miller makes clear she "can't say they go out to dinner together," she knows them well enough that she "would have to pass" on serving on the jury.
"I feel bad for [Hunter Biden] being in the shadow of your dead brother and the leader of the free world," she says, referring to the death of Beau Biden nine years ago from brain cancer. "Anything you do is going to be put under a microscope. I think he's troubled and you can't have any privacy with your troubles and just keep it a family matter."
She thinks it's good that the jury selection process doesn't automatically strike any New Castle County resident who has simply met a Biden family member: "I mean, it's not like we're Manhattan."
Perhaps Newark's Nakishia Williams Bailey doesn't know the Bidens quite as well as Miller, but she too says she couldn't be impartial if she landed before a judge in the case.
Her father, Wilson Williams, knew Biden from his 39-year career at Chrysler's Newark Assembly plant, where he also held local and national office in the United Auto Workers union.
That connection ― and total happenstance ― led to Biden being a guest speaker at a Thanksgiving comedy fundraiser in 2015 at Penn Cinema Riverfront 14 + IMAX in Wilmington, run by Bailey's Events by Nakishia.
Wilson spotted Biden leaving a film in the halls of the movie theater, the pair had a chat and when Biden heard about the fundraiser, he asked if he could pop in and say a few words.
Soon, the stand-up comedy program took an unplanned break and the vice president of the United States appeared. Standing in front of the theater, he gave a nearly 15-minute of-the-cuff speech at the event, which raised money for the Sunday Breakfast Mission and Food Bank of Delaware.
Biden has also attended the Martin Luther King Jr. Day prayer breakfast she helps organize each year in New Castle County and she, too, bumps into him by coincidence, including once at a Walgreens pharmacy.
All that adds up to her not being able to be objective in this case, says Bailey, a human resources manager, before adding, "And I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of folks like that."
Trial expected to run through next week
U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika is overseeing Hunter Biden's trial, which kicks off today and will bring plenty of national media attention to the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building.
In a twist highlighting the tight-knit nature of this tiny state, the courthouse is named for the former U.S. senator that then-underdog Biden surprisingly beat in 1972 to begin his career in Washington, D.C.
The trial is expected to continue through next week.
Prosecutors claim Hunter Biden broke federal law by reportedly lying about his addiction to drugs when he bought a gun in New Castle County in 2018.
The indictment against Hunter Biden charges him with knowingly deceiving a firearms dealer by buying a Colt Cobra 38SPL revolver on Oct. 12, 2018. He is charged with falsely filling out a federal form denying he was addicted to any narcotics. He is also charged with knowingly possessing the revolver despite the restrictions against people addicted to drugs owning firearms.
Hunter Biden has acknowledged he was struggling with addiction at the time.
He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison if convicted ? five years for the false statement to the dealer, 10 years for the false statement on the federal form and 10 years for possession of the firearm ? but actual sentences typically are shorter than the maximum, according to the Justice Department.
They've met a Biden and say they could be impartial
Not everyone who has met President Biden over the years believes they couldn't be impartial. In fact, having an interaction or some knowledge of the family could help give a juror more insight, says Greenville's Jacobson.
Jacobson lives off Barley Mill Road, less than a mile from President Biden's home, and has not only spotted him in the wild, she ended up on the national news the day she took a photograph with him.
It happened on Election Day in 2020, the day the nation was choosing between Biden and President Donald Trump to lead the country. Jacobson and her partner Jon Tumler just happened to be voting at Alexis I. du Pont High School in Greenville when they bumped into the future president.
They asked if they could take a photograph with him and ended up getting a hug along with the photo, footage of which ended up on cable news.
It wasn't the first time they saw their famous neighbor or his wife around, having seen them in Greenville spots such as menswear retailer Jos. A Bank and the Whimsy Boutique gift shop.
"I could be totally impartial and I think to be eliminated from the jury because you're acquainted with the Biden family would be unfair," she says. "If you're acquainted with them, you know their character. So like it or not, you actually may be able to balance things out in a way that others could not.
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"There are a lot of people who don't know the Bidens and think ill of them. But if they knew them, they at least might be more impartial."
How hard is it to not have met a Biden in Delaware?
A transplant to the area, Gretchen Huyler lives in Avondale, Pennsylvania, and doesn't cross the state line too often. Even so, she ended up meeting President Biden in 2016 at the Hockessin Fourth of July parade. Her twin daughters, Brynn and Kate, now 15, even walked away with a selfie with the then-vice president.
It was a spur-of-the-moment decision that day to attend the parade just after the family flew home from Disney World. Once there, the U.S. Secret Service also appeared and that's when the meeting occurred.
"Our claim to fame," she jokes, noting all the comments the photograph got from friends and family back home in northeast Pennsylvania. "They thought it was cool, but I don't think they realize how much of a rock star he is in this area."
When Wilmington's Bill Pegram saw Delaware's "rock star" leaving a Greenville coffee shop in 2019 with a cup of coffee, he stopped his truck in the middle of the parking lot to get a shake his hand.
Pegram was wearing an infantry tank top, since his son is a U.S. Army veteran. The two talked about the Army a bit and Pegram mentioned that his father Richard was a World War II veteran, having served in the South Pacific for three years.
The then-former vice president asked if Pegram's father was still alive and when he learned he was, Biden told him to get his then 95-year-old father on the phone.
"He thanked him for his service and made my father's day," Pegram recalls. "Politics aside, anyone who would call my dad and thank him like that ― I have to give a little appreciation to him."
With that past encounter, Pegram still believes he could be impartial and fairly judge Hunter Biden if he were on the jury.
"I only met him once. It's not like we're family friends or anything," he says. "And I think [President Biden] would expect me to be impartial. I just think that's his ethics."
Xerxes Wilson contributed to this report. Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at [email protected] or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier).
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to clarify that potential jury members for this federal trial were drawn from across Delaware, not just New Castle County, as the trial is in federal court.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Hunter Biden gun trial: How hard will it be to find impartial jury?
