Will the president-elect serve a prison sentence? What you need to know – NBC New York

president-elect donald trump will be sentenced at his hush money trial on January 10, after the judge in the case published a surprise written decision Friday.

But will Trump face any jail time or punishment as a result of the sentencing? This is what we know so far.

Trump’s team wanted the judge to dismiss the criminal case involving Stormy Daniels and sought to have the verdict overturned on the grounds of presidential immunity and because of his imminent return to the White House.

But Judge Juan M. Merchán, who presided over the trial, dismissed the motions and said he found “no legal impediment to sentencing” Trump. The judge wrote that it was “up to” the court to do so before Inauguration Day.

“Only by giving definitive character to this matter” will the interests of justice be served, Merchan wrote.

The judge scheduled sentencing for just 10 days before the inauguration, leaving Trump on track to be the first president to take office convicted of serious crimes.

Merchan said in his decision that Trump does not have to appear in person. You can attend the sentencing virtually, if you wish.

Will Trump face jail time?

Judge Merchán wrote that he will not order the imprisonment of the president-elect. He said it seemed appropriate to make it known in advance that jail time will not be on the table.

Jail was a sentence he could have imposed in this case, in which Trump was convicted of 34 felonies, but he said even prosecutors admitted that jail no longer seems practical for an elected president. Prosecutors acknowledged there should be some accommodations for his upcoming presidency, but insisted the sentence should stand.

They suggested several optionssuch as freezing the case during his sentence or guaranteeing him a sentence without jail. They also proposed closing the case and formally taking note of both his conviction and his undecided appeal, a novel idea drawn from what some state courts do when criminal defendants die while appealing their cases.

Merchan ruled that Trump’s current status as president-elect does not grant him the same type of immunity granted to a sitting president and does not require the verdict to be overturned and the case dismissed, a notion the judge described as “drastic.” ” and “strange.”

Doing so “would undermine the rule of law immeasurably,” Merchan wrote. He opined that it would also not address the Supreme Court’s concerns about presidential immunity.

The judge said in his written decision Friday that the most viable solution appeared to be an unconditional release.

What is an ‘unconditional release’?

Judge Juan M. Merchán, who presided over Trump’s trial, said in a written decision that he would sentence the former and future president to what is known as unconditional release.

What does that imply? In short, it means that the case is dismissed if a defendant avoids re-arrest, meaning no punishment will be imposed. That includes any possible jail time, fines or probation.

Merchan wrote that he sought to balance competing interests: Trump’s ability to govern “unencumbered” by the case, the U.S. Supreme Court’s July ruling on presidential immunity, the public’s expectation “that everyone is equal and no one is above the law” and the importance of protecting the “sanctity of the jury verdict.”

“This court is simply not convinced that the first factor prevails over the others at this stage of the proceedings,” Merchan wrote in an 18-page decision.

In refusing to dismiss the case, Merchan emphasized that Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records by a unanimous jury, a fundamental principle, he said, in our nation’s justice system.

Trump’s communications director, Steven Cheung, reiterated that the case, which Trump has long described as illegitimate, should be dismissed outright.

“There should be no sentencing, and President Trump will continue to fight these hoaxes until they are all dead,” Cheung said in a statement.

The charges arose from an alleged scheme to conceal a money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of Trump’s first campaign in 2016. The payment was made to prevent her from going public with claims that she had had sexual relations. with Trump married years before. . He says his story is false and that he did nothing wrong.

After Trump’s election on Nov. 5, Merchan halted proceedings and indefinitely postponed sentencing so the defense and prosecution could weigh in on the future of the case.

Trump will take office on Jan. 20 as the first former president convicted of a crime and the first convicted felon elected to office. His conviction left the 78-year-old facing penalties ranging from a fine or probation to four years in prison.