All future proceedings in Hunter Biden's federal gun case have been terminated.
District Judge Maryellen Noreika issued the order on Tuesday — less than 48 hours after President Joe Biden announced he was pardoning his son.
Hunter Biden was found guilty in June of three felony counts related to lying about his illicit drug use on forms required to purchase a gun. He was scheduled to be sentenced this month.
It was supposed to be a culmination of years of investigations that prosecutors said were bolstered by Hunter Biden’s book, “Beautiful Things: A Memoir.” In the book, the president’s son admits to using drugs around the time he bought the gun.
RELATED STORY | White House defends President Biden's decision to pardon son Hunter
Prosecutors argued that Biden knowingly lied about his drug use on federal gun-purchase forms in 2018. Biden's defense team unsuccessfully tried to convince the jury that the president's son was not actively using at the time of the purchase.
After issuing the pardon, President Biden criticized prosecutors for bringing the case in the first place.
RELATED STORY | 'This is a bad precedent': Democratic governor criticizes Biden for pardoning son Hunter
"Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form," he said in a statement.
Hunter Biden is still waiting for the judge in his tax fraud case to issue a final ruling following his pardon.