out of the hunter Biden tax case in a surprise move the president's son pleaded guilty to all nine criminal charges the judge will now decide whether sentence him to jail time or probation chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas has the story good morning Pierre George good morning Hunter Biden took a surprising dramatic move throwing his fate to the mercy of the court with the real Prospect of years in prison this morning the fate of Hunter Biden now in the hands of a California federal judge president's son in a dramatic and surprised move pleading guilty to felony tax charges with no agreement for leniency from federal prosecutors Hunter Biden pleading guilty nine times to three felonies including tax evasion and six misdemeanors Biden had been accused of engaging in a scheme to avoid paying $1.4 million in taxes while spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on exotic cars escorts and drugs the stunning guilty plea could land Biden in prison for up to 17 years and force him to pay more than a million in fines this plea prevents that kind of show trial that would have not provided all the facts or served any real Point Injustice in a statement Hunter Biden saying I will not subject my family to more pain more invasions of privacy and needless embarrassment and so I've decided to plead guilty Biden's surprising move coming Justice jury selection was about to get underway but Biden catching the special counsel completely off guard telling the court he wanted to enter something called an Alfred plea where he would plead guilty but maintain his innocence special counsel attorney Leo wise immediately pushing back saying I want to make something crystal clear the United States opposes an Alfred plea emphasizing Biden maintaining his innocence was a nonstarter the White House yesterday again reiterating that President Biden will not commute his son sentence nor pardon him something he told ABC's David M in June as we sit here in Normandy uh your son Hunter is on trial and I know that you cannot speak about an ongoing uh Federal prosecution but let me ask you will you accept the jury's outcome their verdict no matter what it is yes and have you ruled out a pardon for your son yes with that one of the most consequential doj cases in recent history the prosecution of a sitting president's son nears a close Biden will be sentenced in December Rebecca all right Pierre thank you