Hunter Biden's unexpected guilty plea to tax charges on Thursday followed a contentious moment in court when his legal team proposed entering an Alfred plea a rare legal maneuver that allows a defendant to plead guilty while maintaining their innocence The Plea came during a federal court session in Los Angeles where more than 100 potential jurors had gathered in preparation for the trial ultimately President Joe Biden's son pleaded guilty to nine charges related to his failure to pay at least 1 $4 million in taxes over a 4-year period before The Plea Hunter Biden's attorney AB LEL informed the judge that his client was willing to forgo the trial by entering an Alfred plea this can be resolved today LEL told the court signaling a potential quick resolution to the case however Federal prosecutors were quick to object Leo wise representing the US government firmly stated I want to make something crystal clear and that is the United States opposes an Alfred plea Hunter Biden Is Not Innocent Hunter Biden is guilty he is not entitled to plead guilty on special terms that apply only to him an Alfred plea named after the 1970 Supreme Court case North Carolina V Alfred allows defendant to enter a guilty plea while continuing to assert their innocence often as a strategic move to avoid a harsher sentence or trial the Supreme Court ruled that The Plea did not violate constitutional rights as long as there was sufficient evidence to support a conviction in Hunter Biden's case Federal prosecutors opposed such a plea pointing out that it is typically not accepted by the justice department except in extremely unusual circumstances and only with approval from senior officials in Washington despite the defense's initial request for the Alford plea US District Judge Mark scari asserted that he did not need the government's approval to accept such a plea after a brief recess however Hunter Biden's legal team dropped the request and he pleaded guilty to the charges without the special condition s of the Alfred plea the guilty plea marks a significant turn in Hunter Biden's legal troubles prosecutors had previously accused him of failing to pay substantial federal taxes over four years Hunter Biden's attorney had argued for leniency initially suggesting that his client didn't act willfully or with intent to break the law partly attributing his actions to struggles with addiction however the court proceedings led to a standard guilty plea bypassing the need for a full trial Alfred pleas while rare in federal court have been used in notable cases across the country in 2018 John Dylan Adams entered an Alfred plea in Tennessee to charges related to the killing of nursing student Holly Bobo accepting a 35-year sentence in exchange for The Plea similarly in Arkansas the so-called West Memphis 3 were released in 2011 after entering Alfred pleas in connection with the murders of three boys though they maintained their innocence they accepted 18-year sentences with credit for time served and they have since sought to clear their names with Hunter Biden's guilty plea now on the record the case has drawn considerable attention not only for its high-profile defendant but also for the legal intricacies involved in the proposed and ultimately abandoned Alfred plea sentencing for the tax charges has been scheduled and Hunter Biden could face substantial penalties depending on the Court's final [Music] decision e