Who Blew It?

Legal commentators on the disastrous courtroom events for Hunter Biden in Delaware yesterday have avoided asking this question, but they've unavoidably skirted it by noting that plea deals aren't usually handled this way.

Normally there's just a pro forma exchange in which the judge makes sure the defendant understands the terms of the plea, and it's 15 minutes in and out. Commentators like Jonathan Turley have noted that it's basic lawyering to have the terms of the plea fully negotiated and agreed to before it reaches the court, yet somehoe this didn't take place. So who blew it? According to Politico, Hunter

was accompanied by a group of lawyers, including prominent white collar defender Abbe Lowell. Kevin Morris, a Hollywood lawyer who has reportedly given Hunter significant financial help, sat in the audience with members of his legal team.

Morris has repeatedly identified himself as Hunter's "lead attorney", and according to the UK Daily Mail,

Hunter Biden flew to his criminal court hearing in a private jet belonging to his ‘sugar brother’, according to a source and flight records.

A Dassault Falcon 50 belonging to Kevin Morris, Hunter’s lawyer and financial benefactor, flew from a Los Angeles airport to Philadelphia today, landing around 7.15pm local time, flight data shows.

A source told DailyMail.com that Morris and the First Son were on the plane.

As I noted here, Hunter was spotted visiting Morris at one of his LA area homes last Friday, when Morris was spotted huffing from a bong on the home's balcony. One can only infer that they were having a premature celebration.

On the other hand, Chris Clark was the attorney who spoke for Hunter in front of the judge. He's the gent with graying hair and a bald spot walking into the courthouse behind Hunter in the photo above. The peculiar thing about Clark is that he left the white-shoe Latham & Watkins firm only this past April in order to take on Hunter as the major client in a new firm:

Last week, leading litigator Christopher Clark left Latham & Watkins, one of Biglaw’s biggest and best names, to launch his own boutique. Together with Patrick Smith, a former colleague of his from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and Rodney Villazor, another former federal prosecutor, Clark is a founding partner of Clark Smith Villazor.

For this new podcast episode, Clark and I discussed his time at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which he joined right after clerking; his time in Biglaw, including Dewey & LeBoeuf during its downfall; why he admires his most controversial client, Hunter Biden; helpful advice for representing billionaires; and, finally, a key skill for success as a lawyer—which, sadly, many lawyers overlook.

One would assume a key skill for success as a lawyer would be to be sure you have your client's plea deal nailed down in detail before you go before the judge. But beyond that, it sounds as though he and two former federal prosecutor colleagues formed a new firm primarily to defend Hunter, which maybe they thought would establish their reputation in the white collar defense world. So far, that isn't working out the way they expected. According to Yahoo,

Criminal prosection experts say that the younger Biden went from "a sweetheart deal" to a "real poison pill" that could "expose him across the board."

"The judge had an obligation to make sure that the defendant and the government have a very clear idea of what is implicated guaranteed," Jonathan Turley, criminal law professor at George Washington University, told Fox News, adding that "they didn't have that."

Turley said the plea deal dissolving in such a manor [sic] is "extremely rare" akin to "a wedding where both the groom and bride object."

Along with Bud Light and the Titan sub, this is starting to look like another episode in the crisis of competence among our Ivy-educated elites. Chris Clark has a BA from Berkeley Phi Beta Kappa and a JD from Coiumbia cum laude. Kevin Morris has a BA from Cornell and a JD from NYU. Abbe Lowell has both a BA and a JD from Columbia. Hunter Biden has a BA from Georgetown and a JD from Yale Law.

These legal minds together managed to concoct an epic debacle. My theory, though, is that Kevin Morris, who appears to have been paying all the legal bills, worked out the overall strategy, quite possibly with the help of Hunter, between hits on a bong. That's the only explanation I can think of that fits.