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What will happen to Trump’s November verdict?

Posted on by L. Dreeye
What will happen to Trump’s November verdict?



CNN
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Donald Trump has several legal tactics to try to avoid state prison, but his best chance of success depends on the outcome of the presidential election.

The former president has twice successfully delayed sentencing beyond Election Day on 34 counts of falsifying business records to influence the 2016 election by concealing hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. His lawyers are preparing for further legal battles, but no tactic will affect his future more than how voters cast their ballots.

“It’s 50/50″ that he will be sentenced in November, said Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former senior official in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and a CNN legal analyst. “If he loses the election, I think he will be sentenced to prison. If he wins, I don’t think it will last.”

An Election Day victory, she added, is “his get-out-of-jail-free card.”

For years, Trump’s legal plan has been to seek delays. He often succeeded. By the end of 2023, he had faced four criminal charges, and only one of those cases went to trial before the election.

Now his lawyers are considering several tactics to delay his sentencing, scheduled for November 26, regardless of whether he wins or loses the presidential election. How the courts respond to these desperate efforts will determine an unprecedented moment in American history, as well as whether and when the former US president will serve time in prison.

“The uniqueness of this entire situation is beyond anything any Founding Father could have imagined,” said retired New York State Judge Jill Konwiser. “There is no play here. You can’t look it up in law and find the answer to that question because it doesn’t exist.”

Previously, prosecutors had not objected to Trump’s proposals to delay sentencing until after the election, which Judge Juan Merchan noted when he agreed to delay Trump’s sentencing until the end of November. It is unclear what position prosecutors will take once all the votes are counted.

Immunity and removal

Merchan, who oversaw the hush money trial, said he will rule on Nov. 12 — a week after Election Day — on Trump’s motion to overturn his conviction in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity that limits the amount of evidence that can be be presented to the jury.

If Merchan grants Trump’s request, the charges will be dropped and he will not be sentenced.

If Trump loses immunity, his lawyers are expected to ask Merchan to delay Trump’s sentencing so they can appeal. And if that isn’t granted, his lawyers plan to appeal the immunity ruling to state appeals courts and possibly all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the courts to delay Trump’s sentencing until all appeals have been exhausted, which could take months .

At the same time, Trump is trying to move the hush money case from state court to federal court, where he believes he has a better chance of appeal.

Trump’s lawyers tried to do so in 2023, but District Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied it. But after the Supreme Court’s decision this summer, Trump’s lawyers made a second attempt. Hellerstein also rejected that request, finding that Trump had not provided “compelling reasons” why he should reconsider his 2023 decision. He wrote: “Nothing in the Supreme Court’s opinion affects my previous conclusion that the secret money payments were private, unofficial acts outside the executive branch.”

<p>A Manhattan jury on Thursday found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records. The verdict is unprecedented and historic, making Trump the first former president in American history to be convicted of a felony. CNN’s Julia Benbrook reports.</p> <p>” class=”image__dam-img image__dam-img–loading” onload=”this.classList.remove(‘image__dam-img–loading’)” onerror=”imageLoadError(this)” height=”1080″ width=”1920 “/></picture> </div> </div></div> </p></div> </div> <div class=

Donald Trump found guilty in hush money case

Trump’s lawyers have appealed the decision, and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has three months to respond. The window gives Trump’s lawyers another opportunity to try to reschedule the sentence, arguing that Merchan cannot sentence Trump while his impeachment appeal is pending.

Their argument will depend on a line of law that states that a final decision, in this case a sentence, cannot be made if notice of removal is pending.

Federal law states: “The filing of a notice of dismissal of a criminal prosecution shall not prevent the court in the state in which such prosecution is pending from continuing the proceeding, except that a conviction may not be entered until the charge is first remanded. »

In previous court filings arguing against earlier attempts to delay sentencing, prosecutors had argued that the current notice of removal was not pending because the judge found Trump did not have “compelling cause” to file it.

“However, the district court did not issue a pretrial detention order because defendant failed to file the proper notice of removal,” the district attorney’s office wrote in September. At the time, Trump tried to convince a federal appeals court to delay or “stay” his sentencing so he could appeal the district court’s decision. This was refuted when Merchan agreed to delay Trump’s sentencing.

Prosecutors wrote in September that sending the case back to Hellerstein would reinstate Trump’s motion for leave to request removal rather than turning it into a notice of removal. “The mere consideration of such a motion does not dismiss the state criminal case or stop any aspect of the state criminal proceeding. Only a properly submitted takedown notice can have such consequences.”

If Trump wins the race for the White House but loses the argument to dismiss the case, his lawyers will likely frame their legal arguments on constitutional issues and challenge whether a state judge can sentence the former president and the president-elect, which could tie the case pending in the courts for years.

They are also likely to argue that Trump should not be sentenced until after his sentence expires, four years from January.

If Trump loses the election and tries to overturn his conviction, his lawyers will likely make similar legal arguments to keep him out of prison, but whether they will carry the same weight with the courts may be different if Trump is a convicted felon without the protection of the presidency.

And without White House protection, Trump could face trial on his other criminal cases, including federal election subversion in Washington, D.C. If Trump wins, his Justice Department is expected to drop the case altogether..

Convicting a former president or potential president-elect has never happened before in American history, putting Merchan in a unique position if the case does proceed.

“When you’re in the middle of a high-profile case in the media, everyone is watching you,” said Diane Kiesel, a retired New York Supreme Court judge who served with Merchan. “But you don’t want to change the way you do things just because everyone is watching you.”

“You have to make sure, for lack of a better word, that you’re not playing in front of the cameras. You will often have to step back and say to yourself, “Am I doing here what I would be doing if there were three people in the courtroom?” – said Kiesel.

Merchan could sentence Trump to incarceration, probation, probation or prison. Trump faces 1.5 to 4 years in prison on each count, with a maximum sentence of 20 years. During his criminal trial, Trump violated a judge’s gag order 10 times, which he may take into account.

“Judges have a hard time handing down a sentence,” Konviser said. “Some judges have a reputation for giving tough sentences and some have a reputation for giving lenient sentences, and I simply believe Judge Merchan is neither. It would hit the middle: harsh where it should be, and lenient where it should be,” she added.

Lawyers for Trump, a senior citizen with no previous convictions, are expected to argue that he should not be sentenced to prison. It is unclear what position Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, will take.

“It’s very difficult for Bragg, both from a prosecution standpoint and a political standpoint, to bring this charge, get a conviction, and then say, ‘But we’re fine without jail time,'” said Elie Honig, Sr. CNN legal analyst and former state and federal prosecutor. “I think it’s much more likely than not that Bragg will ask for prison time.”

If Trump is sentenced to prison, under New York state law, he would typically be taken into custody immediately. Convicted criminals are housed in New York’s notorious city jail, Rikers Island, where they serve sentences of less than one year. For longer sentences, they are often temporarily housed in Rikers until they can be transferred to a prison designed to serve longer sentences.

This raises further questions about the US Secret Service’s protection of Trump, whether the president-elect or the former president.

If a prison sentence is imposed, Trump’s lawyers are expected to immediately ask Merchan to allow Trump to remain jailed in a secure location at the courthouse so he can appeal the conviction and sentence, among other things. Merchen will have to decide whether to grant that permission, and if not, Trump’s lawyers could rush to state appeals courts to ask for a stay of execution.

Honig said it was likely Trump would be released on bail pending an appeal and suggested the district attorney’s office might even agree to such a condition if the judge imposed a prison sentence.

“Prosecutors will sometimes agree and say, ‘Look, there are reasons to let this person appeal first and then have him serve his sentence if he loses,'” Honig said.

If the sentencing date is not moved, the courts could rule that Trump, if elected, could begin serving his sentence after his term expires, when he turns 82.

And if Trump succeeds in delaying sentencing indefinitely, it could be a decisive coup in his legal strategy. But some lawyers say that would send the wrong message.

“No one should be above the law,” Agnifilo said. “I think it will certainly send a message to people that some people are above the law and that you can get away with anything if you’re powerful enough.”