Fordham Law Professor Cheryl Bader discusses the indictment of Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, and explains what may have happened with his plea deal.
Prosecutors have wide discretion to defer prosecution or seek diversion programs and often do so in cases like Biden’s in which the offender has no criminal record, the charges are minor and the case does not involve aggravating circumstances such as use of the firearm in a criminal act, according to Cheryl Bader, a former federal prosecutor who runs the Criminal Defense Clinic at Fordham Law.