A U.S. Federal Judge has released Hunter Biden’s conditions he must follow in order to not be sent to jail.

Judge Maryellen Noreika laid out the conditions which included Hunter actively seeking employment, submitting to random drug testing, not possessing a firearm, and abstaining from drugs, as he is being investigated.

Back in June, Hunter was charged with two misdemeanors for failing to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018.

Hunter was expecting to sign a plea deal on Wednesday but Judge Maryellen Noreika turned down the plea deal because it gave Hunter a blanket pardon for facing possible FARA violations.

Here’s what Fox News reported:

A federal judge in Delaware on Wednesday ordered Hunter Biden to “actively seek employment,” abstain from drugs or alcohol, submit to random drug testing and not possess a firearm as conditions for staying out of jail.

The conditions were laid out by U.S. District Court Judge Maryellen Noreika as part of the ongoing investigation in Delaware centering around the first son.

Hunter Biden was charged last month with two misdemeanor crimes of failure to pay more than $100,000 in taxes from over $1.5 million in income in both 2017 and 2018.

The younger Biden had been expected to plead guilty Wednesday after he made an agreement with prosecutors who were planning to recommend two years of probation.

But the plea deal collapsed during a court hearing after Judge Noreika raised concerns about the terms of the agreement and her role in the proceedings.

The plan also included an agreement on a separate gun charge — Hunter Biden has been accused of possessing a firearm in 2018 as a drug user. The younger Biden has admitted to struggling with drug addiction in the past.

Per Politico:

Hunter Biden’s plea deal hit a roadblock during an unexpectedly contentious federal court hearing Wednesday as prosecutors and Biden’s attorneys initially disagreed about the scope of the agreement and the judge then balked at approving the deal. Tensions grew after a prosecutor said the federal investigation into the president’s son is ongoing.

After pressing both sides for details about the plea deal, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika adjourned the hearing so that the two sides could refine and clarify the agreement — under which Biden had planned to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax offenses and likely avoid punishment on a felony gun charge.

At the end of the tumultuous three-hour hearing, Biden instead wound up pleading not guilty to all three charges, and the judge postponed further proceedings, likely for a month or more.

The proposed deal between Biden and the Justice Department — the outline of which was announced last month — isn’t dead. But prosecutors and Biden’s lawyers will now have to satisfy Noreika’s concerns about technical aspects of the deal and her own role in enforcing a so-called pretrial diversion agreement, under which Biden would avoid prison time on the gun charge if he remains drug-free for two years and doesn’t break any other laws.

 

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