Current:Home > MarketsWhat happens to Donald Trump’s criminal conviction? Here are a few ways it could go -Elevate Profit Vision
What happens to Donald Trump’s criminal conviction? Here are a few ways it could go
View
Date:2025-04-16 05:52:50
NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s election victory created a profound conundrum for the judge overseeing his criminal case in New York. Can he go ahead and sentence the president-elect, or would doing so potentially get in the way of Trump’s constitutional responsibility to lead the nation?
Court documents made public Tuesday revealed that Judge Juan M. Merchan has effectively put the case on hold until at least Nov. 19 while he and the lawyers on both sides weigh in on what should happen next. Trump’s sentencing had been tentatively scheduled for Nov. 26.
Trump’s lawyers are urging Merchan to act “in the interests of justice” and rip up the verdict, the first criminal conviction of a former and now future U.S. president.
Manhattan prosecutors told Merchan they want to find a way forward that balances the “competing interests” of the jury’s verdict and Trump’s responsibilities as president.
Here are some scenarios for what could happen next:
Wait until Trump leaves office
If Merchan wants to preserve the verdict without disrupting Trump’s presidency, he could opt to delay sentencing until the president-elect leaves office in 2029.
Trump would be 82 at the end of his second term and more than a decade removed from the events at the heart of the case.
Trump’s conviction on 34 felon counts of falsifying business records involves his efforts to hide a $130,000 payment during his 2016 presidential campaign to squelch porn actor Stormy Daniels’ claims that she had sex with him years earlier, which he denies.
If he opts to wait, Merchan might not be on the bench by then. His current term ends before Trump is slated to leave office.
Grant Trump’s immunity claim
Another way Merchan could get rid of the case is by granting Trump’s previous request to overturn the verdict because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in July that gave presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
The judge had said he would issue a ruling Tuesday, but that was before Trump’s election victory upended the schedule.
The high court’s ruling gives former presidents immunity from prosecution for official acts and bars prosecutors from using evidence of official acts in trying to prove their personal conduct violated the law.
Trump’s lawyers argue prosecutors “tainted” the case with testimony about his first term and other evidence that shouldn’t have been allowed. Prosecutors have said the ruling provides “no basis for disturbing the jury’s verdict.”
The judge could order a new trial — potentially to take place after Trump leaves office — or dismiss the indictment entirely.
Hold off until a federal court rules
Merchan could choose to delay things until the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules on Trump’s earlier bid to move the case from state court to federal court.
Trump’s lawyers have been appealing a Manhattan federal judge’s decision to deny the transfer. Their argument: Trump’s case belongs in federal court because as a former president he has the right to assert immunity and seek dismissal.
Waiting for the appeals court to rule, though, might trigger further delays down the road. The court has given prosecutors until Jan. 13 to respond to Trump’s appeal. That’s a week before he is to be sworn in to office. Once Trump is in the White House, his legal team could make fresh arguments around presidential immunity.
Case dismissed
Merchan could end the case immediately by overturning Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and throwing out the indictment.
That would mean no sentencing or punishment, sparing the president-elect from the possibility of prison time or other penalties.
Trump’s lawyers insist tossing the case is the only way “to avoid unconstitutional impediments” to his ability to govern.
Prosecutors acknowledged the “unprecedented circumstances” of Trump’s conviction colliding with his election but also said the jury’s verdict should stand.
Proceed to sentencing
Merchan could also opt for none of the above and move to sentencing — or at least try, barring an appeal by Trump’s lawyers.
George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin said whether the case reaches sentencing “could go either way.”
If it does, he said, “it probably won’t be a prison sentence.”
Trump’s charges carry a range of punishments from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison.
“Any prison sentence would likely be blocked or suspended in some way,” but a lesser sentence “probably wouldn’t impede Trump to any meaningful degree,” Somin said.
veryGood! (42)
Related
- Trump issues order to ban transgender troops from serving openly in the military
- Post-GOP walkout, Oregon elections chief says lawmakers with 10 or more absences can’t run next term
- Supreme Court allows ATF to enforce ghost gun rules for now
- Meat processor ordered to pay fines after teen lost hand in grinder
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Coroner’s office releases names of 2 killed in I-81 bus crash in Pennsylvania
- Romanian care homes scandal spotlights abuse described as ‘inhumane and degrading’
- Gisele Bündchen Reflects on How Breakups Are Never Easy After Tom Brady Divorce
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- Man who made threats at a rural Kansas home shot and killed by deputy, authorities say
Ranking
- Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
- Inside Pennsylvania’s Monitoring of the Shell Petrochemical Complex
- Rollin': Auburn says oak trees at Toomer's Corner can be rolled
- 19 Shower Caddy Essentials You Need for Your Dorm
- Arkansas State Police probe death of woman found after officer
- Pioneering study links testicular cancer among military personnel to ‘forever chemicals’
- Idaho man charged with shooting rifle at two hydroelectric power stations
- Texas woman exonerated 20 years after choking death of baby she was caring for
Recommendation
Travis Hunter, the 2
Ukraine says woman held in plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as airstrikes kill 3
Air Force veteran Tony Grady joins Nevada’s crowded Senate GOP field, which includes former ally
Storm-damaged eastern US communities clear downed trees and race to restore power
Elon Musk's skyrocketing net worth: He's the first person with over $400 billion
Why Ohio’s Issue 1 proposal failed, and how the AP called the race
3-month-old baby dies after being left in hot car outside Houston medical center
Detroit Lions signing former Pro Bowl QB Teddy Bridgewater