Hunter Biden

Hunter Biden plea deal: Who is Maryellen Noreika, the judge who threw a 'curveball'

Delaware federal district Judge Maryellen Noreika, who is an appointee of former President Donald Trump, is throwing a "curveball" as she presides over the "sweetheart" plea deal between Hunter Biden and prosecutors.

Noreika, who is also a former patent lawyer from the state, is appearing poised to reject the agreement that would avoid a felony gun charge and result in a guilty plea to two tax misdemeanor charges.

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She had bipartisan support for her appointment and the support of both Democratic home-state senators. She was widely expected by legal experts to approve Hunter Biden's plea deal, but now, Noreika appears to be taking a different approach.

Noreika expressed frustrations with attorneys on Wednesday when she asked prosecutors if investigations into Biden were continuing. When prosecutors told her there is still an active investigation into the president's son, she asked why the process was moving forward "piecemeal."

Noreika has experience in several legal cases over her years on and off the bench. She oversaw a lawsuit filed against Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) by the owner of a Delaware computer repair shop, the same shop where Hunter Biden dropped off and left behind his now-famous laptop hard drive in April 2019.

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The Delaware federal judge ruled that the suit against Schiff would be dismissed. However, litigation involving the younger Biden and news outlets CNN and Politico, also named in the lawsuit, would be allowed to play out in the state's courts.

Last August, Noreika presided over the case of Jeremy Johnson, 34, of Wilmington, sentencing him to five years in prison for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.