Los Angeles
CNN
—

Hunter Biden is seeking to settle his tax evasion case in federal court in California with a plea deal in which he maintains his innocence but will accept the punishment, his lawyers announced in court Thursday, shortly before jury selection was set to begin.

The agreement will not be final until District Judge Mark Scarsi, a Trump appointee who presided over the tax case, gives his approval in open court. The hearing is currently on recess and is set to resume at 2 p.m. ET.

Under such an agreement, known as an “Alford Plea,” Biden would acknowledge that Special Counsel David Weiss has enough evidence to convict — and then accept the sentence that Scarsi ultimately imposes.

“I think this can be resolved today,” said Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell.

Prosecutors on Weiss’ team said they would object to an Alford plea. Prosecutor Leo Wise told the judge that Lowell’s comments in court were the first he had learned of a possible change in plea.

Lowell also said there was “no agreement” between the parties – such as a plea agreement – that would see Biden plead guilty to some counts in exchange for dropping others. The only offer Hunter’s team ever received from prosecutors, Lowell said, was for him to plead guilty to all nine counts.

The potential resolution of the tax dispute is about to take place in a trial in downtown Los Angeles. It would have been Biden’s second criminal trial this year after he was convicted of three gun violations in Wilmington, Delaware, in June.

Biden has been charged with nine tax offenses, including three felonies. Prosecutors allege Biden failed to pay $1.4 million in federal taxes and evaded taxes by filing tax returns with fraudulent business deductions. They also allege Biden spent his money on luxury cars, extravagant hotels and sex workers instead of paying taxes that were due.

The president’s son eventually paid about $2 million in back taxes and penalties after learning of the investigation and getting sober after years of battling drug addiction and alcoholism. In the weeks before the trial, the judge blocked Biden’s lawyers from telling jurors about the late tax payment or the possible origins of his addiction – dealing a major blow to his defense strategy.

During the brief hearing, Scarsi pointed out that about 120 potential jurors were waiting in the courthouse as the jury selection process was scheduled to begin Thursday morning.

Scarsi indicated that if he does not accept Biden’s attempt to quickly resolve the case, the trial will continue with jury selection as planned on Thursday and Friday.

Prosecutors asked Scarsi for more time to review the legal situation surrounding an Alford plea, saying this was the first they had heard of Biden’s offer to change his plea.

The judge replied, “Normally I would give you a chance to present the case briefly, but the problem is that we have 120 jurors that we want to keep in case we need them.”

Biden’s wife, Melissa Cohen, was denied access to the courtroom, prompting Lowell to complain. No one was allowed in except the parties and their lawyers because all the empty space in the benches was to be used for potential jurors during jury selection, the judge said.

Lowell’s attendance and commitment are notable. He was the lead defense attorney in his client’s Delaware gun case, but was absent from a key pretrial hearing in the California tax case two weeks ago. Instead, prominent attorney Mark Geragos, hired earlier this summer, took the lead at that hearing.

President Joe Biden has repeatedly stressed that he will not pardon his son in any of his cases. It is not clear if the president has changed his mind since dropping his re-election bid, but he still has the option to pardon his son or commute his sentence.

In July, Biden brought Los Angeles attorney Mark Geragos onto his legal team. Abbe Lowell, who handled Biden’s gun case in Delaware, was to recuse himself from his tax case because Geragos was the lead attorney. CNN had previously reported that there were plea negotiations earlier this summer but that they did not lead to a settlement at the time.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

CNN’s Emma Tucker contributed to this report.