The New York judge who presided over Donald Trump’s hush money trial has delayed sentencing until after November’s US presidential election.
The Republican White House candidate had been scheduled to be sentenced on September 18 for falsifying business records during a scheme to silence an adult entertainment actress.
Instead, Judge Juan Merchan postponed it to November 26 – well past the November 5 election in which Trump faces Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Trump’s lawyers had sought the delay.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of doctoring business records to cover up hush money payments to the actress to stop her from publishing her account of an alleged encounter on the eve of the 2016 election.
He was originally scheduled to be sentenced on July 11 but that was delayed after the Supreme Court ruled that a former US president has broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
Trump’s lawyers had asked that his New York conviction be dismissed following the Supreme Court immunity ruling.
Merchan said he would rule on the dismissal motion on November 12 and delayed sentencing until after the election.
“This is not a decision this court makes lightly but it is the decision which in this court’s view, best advances the interests of justice,” he said.
Trump in theory faces up to four years in prison on each count.
However, the former president is considered more likely to receive probation.
The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling, which related to a separate criminal case Trump faces, found that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for their official acts, and that evidence of presidents’ official actions cannot be used to help prove criminal cases involving unofficial actions.
Prosecutors argued their case involved Trump’s personal conduct, not official acts, so there was no reason to overturn the verdict.
However, they took no position on Trump’s request to delay sentencing, saying in an August 16 filing that they deferred to Merchan on the question.
The prosecutors said an appellate court could delay the sentencing anyway to give itself time to consider Trump’s arguments, a move that they said would be “disruptive”.
They also also said Trump’s court appearances required significant security and logistical planning and said there was a risk preparations could be made for his sentencing only to be called off.
Donald Trump
