Sentencing Trumps: What We Know and What Happens Next

In May, Donald J. Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of a crime when a Manhattan jury found him guilty of 34 felonies.

On Friday, another unprecedented event took place: Mr. Trump became the first former and future president to be convicted of a crime.

Justice Juan M. Merchan of Manhattan Supreme Court granted Mr. Trump an unconditional release, a rare lenient sentence for defendants convicted in Manhattan on the same charges as Mr. Trump. Here are some answers to key questions regarding his conviction:

What crimes was he convicted of?

Mr. Trump was convicted of 34 counts of first-degree falsifying business records. The charges stem from a secret $130,000 payment that Mr. Trump's fixer, Michael D. Cohen, made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the days before the 2016 election, suppressing an affair story sexual encounter she said she had. with Mr. Trump.

Prosecutors argued that Mr. Trump ordered Mr. Cohen to make the payment and then covered it up with a series of reimbursements falsely classified as ordinary legal fees. Each of the 34 accounts corresponds to an invoice, check or ledger linked to these reimbursements.

Who is the judge who convicted Trump?

Judge Merchan is a veteran Manhattan judge known for being tough on white-collar crime. During the trial, the drama-averse judge faced repeated attacks from Mr. Trump, who accused him of being biased and corrupt.

At the request of prosecutors, the judge imposed a silence barring Mr. Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors and jurors. And when Mr. Trump broadened his attacks to include the daughter of Judge Merchan, a Democratic strategist, the judge revised the silence order to protect his own family and the prosecutors' family members from Mr. Trump's vitriol.

What punishment did Trump receive?

Judge Merchan revealed his plans in an 18-page ruling released earlier this month, in which he said he planned to grant Mr. Trump a so-called unconditional discharge.

Unlike a conditional release, which requires defendants to meet certain conditions like maintaining employment or paying restitution, an unconditional release has no such requirements. In his decision, Judge Merchan wrote that the sentence appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality in the case.

Yet the sentence solidified Mr. Trump’s criminal status before his inauguration.

Mr. Trump was initially sentenced to four years in prison, and it is possible that he would have received a different sentence if he had not been elected president.

A New York Times analysis of sentencing outcomes showed that since 2014, a third of defendants convicted of first-degree falsifying business records in Manhattan have been sentenced to prison for less than a year.

Other defendants were sentenced to more than a year behind bars or sentenced to probation, parole, community service or fines.

None of the other defendants in the cases examined received unconditional release.

Wasn't the sentencing supposed to happen before Election Day?

Mr. Trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. But ten days earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court granted him broad immunity from prosecution for official actions he took as president.

Taking advantage of the ruling, Mr. Trump's lawyers requested a postponement of the sentence and argued that his Manhattan conviction should be overturned because prosecutors had relied on evidence that included official communications. After agreeing to the delay, prosecutors responded that the Supreme Court's decision had no impact on these proceedings.

Judge Merchan postponed Mr. Trump's sentencing until September, but the motions kept coming. Mr. Trump requested, for the third time since his impeachment, that Judge Merchan recuse himself from the case. Mr. Trump's motion was ultimately denied, but the judge pushed back his ruling on immunity until two days before sentencing to accommodate the additional ruling.

Mr. Trump's lawyers argued that two days would not give them enough time to respond to the judge's ruling.

Thus, in early September, Judge Merchan announced that he would postpone sentencing until November 26. He wrote that he did not take the decision lightly and said he believed moving the date after Election Day was in the interests of justice.

After Mr. Trump's victory, he renewed his attempt to overturn his conviction. Judge Merchan stayed sentencing, but last month rejected Mr. Trump's request to dismiss the case in light of the Supreme Court's immunity ruling. And just last week, he rejected Mr. Trump's assertion that his victory should put an end to the matter.

Despite numerous last-minute efforts earlier this week to avoid conviction, including an unsuccessful plea to the U.S. Supreme Court, Mr. Trump's sentencing went as planned.

What will happen next?

Mr. Trump's conviction allows him to begin formally appealing, although he has not waited to begin attacking the conviction. Shortly before his sentencing, Mr. Trump filed a civil suit against Judge Merchan, challenging his immunity ruling.

The appeal process could take months or even years. The case would first go to the Manhattan Appellate Division, and then, if that fails, Mr. Trump's lawyers would seek a review at the state's highest court, the D.C. Court of Appeals. 'Albany.

But no options will be offered to him, even once he becomes president. He won't be able to pardon himself because the prosecution was brought by the state of New York rather than the federal government.

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