Hunter Biden set to stand trial in September for tax evasion case

LOS ANGELES (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Hunter Biden is set to stand trial on federal tax charges in early September, and during a pre-trial hearing Wednesday, the legal team for President Joe Biden's son and prosecutors appear in a California courtroom to duke out what what evidence can be presented to the jury.

Hunter Biden is accused of a scheme to avoid paying at least $1.4 million in taxes in the case headed for trial in September in Los Angeles.

It's the second criminal trial in just months for the president's son, who was convicted in June of three felony charges in a separate federal case over the purchase of a gun in 2018.

Hunter's attorney Mark Geragos spoke with the media following the hearing.

"So, in tax cases, the whole fight, if you will, has to do with intent, and intent is what's going on in the brain of the accused. And so when we talk about mens rea, that's just the mental state of the defendant...It's an interesting dichotomy that we have here or a bicoastal dichotomy. We have an office of special counsel who, on one coast, wants to prove that Hunter was an addict during this time, and then comes over to this coast and wants to run away from that, and wants to recast it as an extravagant lifestyle. So, I think the judge asked some very probing and astute questions. I think his rulings for the most part [Wednesday] recognize that and I'm hopeful that we'll get a fair trial."

Mark Geragos, Hunter Biden's Attorney