Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 11
NBC New York: A judge won’t decide Tuesday whether to undo President-elect Donald Trump’s conviction in his hush money case because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
New York Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump’s historic trial, had been scheduled to decide whether to toss out the jury verdict and order a new trial — or even dismiss the charges altogether. The judge’s ruling was also expected to speak to whether the former and now future commander-in-chief will be sentenced as scheduled Nov. 26.
Trump’s team wants the case dismissed. The prosecution says it needs time to evaluate next steps. The court has granted them a week delay to provide their position, according to correspondence between the parties.
“Accordingly, the People respectfully request that the Court adjourn the upcoming scheduled dates to afford the People time to assess these recent developments, and set November 19. 2024 as a deadline for the People to advise the Court regarding our view of appropriate steps,” the paperwork said.
The defense had also asked for a delay, court papers indicate.
Trump won back the White House a week ago, but the legal question concerns his status as a past president, not an impending one.
A jury convicted Trump in May of falsifying business records related to a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels in 2016. The payout was to buy her silence about claims that she had sex with Trump.
Just over a month after the verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that ex-presidents can’t be prosecuted for actions they took in the course of running the country, and prosecutors can’t cite those actions even to bolster a case centered on purely personal conduct.
Trump’s criminal conviction was a first for any ex-president. It left the 78-year-old facing the possibility of punishment ranging from a fine or probation to up to four years in prison. The case centered on how Trump accounted for reimbursing his personal attorney for the Daniels payment.
