Question: What will happen in Donald Trump’s criminal case in New York State now that he has been elected president?

A: Trump is expected to be sentenced on November 26, but the judge could decide that sentencing is no longer appropriate. If Trump is sentenced, it could be appealed or the sentencing could be postponed until 2029, when Trump is no longer in office.

FULL QUESTION

What happens if Trump wins the election and is convicted at the end of the month?

FULL ANSWER

President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on November 26 in Manhattan after being convicted in May of 34 felonies for falsifying business records to conceal election law violations stemming from an attempt to hush up an alleged extramarital affair keep. Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw Trump’s trial in New York, has already postponed the sentencing, originally scheduled for July 11, twice.

Now that Trump has been elected the next US president, he may not be convicted at all.

Before Trump’s sentencing hearing, Merchan will decide on Nov. 12 whether to dismiss the conviction entirely based on a motion Trump’s legal team filed following the Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling that presidents have immunity from certain official actions during their term of office.

However, CNN has reported that before November 12, Trump’s lawyers plan to try to overturn the conviction by filing a motion “arguing that as president-elect he is entitled to the same constitutional protections as a sitting president and that he is also entitled to the same constitutional protections as a sitting president.” protected from any action by prosecutors.”

If either motion is granted, the charges will be dismissed.

“But if the judge decides to leave the conviction intact, the former president’s lawyers are expected to ask Merchan to delay Trump’s sentencing so they can appeal,” CNN said. “And if that is not granted, his lawyers plan to appeal the immunity decision to the appellate courts and possibly even all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to ask the courts to delay Trump’s sentencing until all appeals have been exhausted , which can take months.”

If Merchan moves forward with the sentencing, he has several options, as we wrote.

Trump could face jail time, but that’s not likely, Cheryl Bader, a clinical associate professor at Fordham University School of Law, told us in an interview in June.

For a first-time convicted felon, with a low-level, non-violent offense and a person of advanced age, “there would be a relatively low likelihood of incarceration under any circumstance,” she said.

Other punishment options include probation or a “conditional discharge” with conditions other than incarceration or probation. According to her, the “simplest” option could be for the judge to impose a fine on Trump.

“He has been reluctant to put his thumb on the scale during the election, but now that the election is over, it will be interesting to see whether Judge Merchan will feel any pull to delay the political process, or whether he may consider this as a the only thing you will see. opportunity for a judge to hold Trump accountable for his criminal conduct,” Bader said in an email to us on November 7.

If a prison sentence is imposed, the judge could order that the sentence be imposed after Trump completes his four-year term as president in 2029. The Trump team could also appeal against an equal sentence.

But some legal experts don’t see it happening that way.

“I don’t think any reasonable judge would convict the president-elect,” Jill Konviser, a retired New York judge, told Politico for a story that said “the sentencing hearing in the hush money case almost certainly won’t happen.”

And Greg Germain, a corporate attorney and law professor at Syracuse University, told Newsweek that the hush money case should be “postponed” or dropped. “If Judge Merchan goes through with it, or even imposes a conviction, the Justice Department will step in and ultimately the Supreme Court will strike him down,” he said.

But Germain said he doesn’t believe the judge will try to convict Trump.

Unlike the ongoing federal charges against him, Trump cannot pardon himself for state crimes.

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Sources

Bader, Cheryl, Clinical Associate Professor of Law at Fordham University School of Law. Email sent to FactCheck.org. November 7, 2024.

Farley, Robert, et al. “Questions and Answers on Trump’s Criminal Conviction.” FactCheck.org. May 31, 2024.

O’Driscoll, Sean. “The Supreme Court will ‘strike down’ the Donald Trump Hush Money case – lawyer.” Newsweek. November 7, 2024.

Orden, Erica. “Trump will be sentenced in three weeks. That probably won’t happen.” Politics. November 6, 2024.

Cole, Devan, et al. “What Happens to Trump’s Criminal and Civil Cases Now that He’s Re-Elected.” CNN. November 6, 2024.

Reiss, Adam. “The judge postpones Trump’s sentencing in hush money case until after the November elections.” NBC News. September 6, 2024.