OAN Staff James Meyers
8:05 AM – Thursday, November 7, 2024
The Manhattan judge who oversaw president-elect Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial is expected to announce next week if his historic felony conviction will still stand.
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Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan had previously delayed the sentencing by over four months to come after the presidential election and has given himself until next Tuesday if he will get rid of the conviction.
Trump’s landslide election win will now give more leverage to his legal team “to make sure that sentencing never happens,” CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid noted late Wednesday.
“Here, they’re going to argue to the judge that the sentencing should never happen because now that Trump is president-elect,” Reid noted.
“They will say that he is entitled to the same constitutional protections as a sitting president and should be protected from state actors, and in this case, state prosecutors.”
Meanwhile, the 78-year-old faces up to four years in prison after being convicted on 34 counts of felony falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.
Legal experts have already predicted Trump won’t face any prison time.
“Merchan doesn’t have the stomach to imprison a former president or president-elect,” former prosecutor Neama Rahmani said.
“Now that Trump has won, his criminal problems go away.”
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