Judge Juan Merchan rejected Donald Trump’s request to delay his sentencing for the hush money conviction, according to a filing on Monday.
That means Trump’s legal team is expected to appeal Merchan’s decision to a New York appellate court right away, according to other reports.
Earlier on Monday, Trump’s lawyers filed an appeal asking the New York appellate court to overturn Merchan’s two recent rulings that upheld his conviction in the hush money case. They also separately requested that the judge postpone Trump’s sentencing while the appeal is ongoing.
Trump’s legal actions come on the same day he was certified as the winner of the 2024 presidential election.
Last week, Merchan rejected Trump’s attempt to dismiss his conviction based on his election as president, scheduling his sentencing in the hush money case for Friday. However, Merchan made it clear that Trump would not face jail time.
Trump’s legal team has argued that sentencing should be delayed until his appeals are resolved.
“The Court should vacate the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, and suspend all further deadlines in the case until President Trump’s immunity appeals are fully and finally resolved, which should result in a dismissal of this case, which should have never been brought in the first place,” Trump’s filing states.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office urged Judge Merchan to deny Trump’s request to postpone sentencing.
“Defendant will suffer no prejudice from the conclusion of criminal proceedings in the trial court given the Court’s intended sentence of an unconditional discharge and defendant’s decision to appear for sentencing virtually instead of in person—indeed, entry of judgment is necessary to allow the appeal defendant has repeatedly stated he will pursue,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
“And the current schedule is entirely a function of defendant’s repeated requests to adjourn a sentencing date that was originally set for July 11, 2024; he should not now be heard to complain of harm from delays he caused,” prosecutors added.
On Monday afternoon, Trump’s attorneys filed an appeal with a New York appellate court, seeking to overturn Judge Merchan’s rulings that upheld Trump’s conviction. While the lawyers did not request the appeals court to intervene in the sentencing, they could take that step if Merchan proceeds with his plan to sentence Trump on Friday, CNN reported.
“Justice Merchan’s erroneous decisions threaten the institution of the Presidency and run squarely against established precedent disallowing any criminal process against a President-Elect, as well as prohibiting the use of evidence of a President’s official acts against him in a criminal proceeding,” the president-elect’s attorneys wrote.
Trump was convicted in May on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments made to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to reimburse a $130,000 hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, aimed at preventing her from speaking out about an alleged affair before the 2016 election. Trump has denied the affair ever took place.
Originally, Trump was scheduled to be sentenced in July, but the sentencing was postponed until after the election in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity. However, last month, Judge Merchan rejected Trump’s attempt to dismiss the case based on presidential immunity, CNN added.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that laws and judicial rules were bent in New York by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Merchan in order to both charge and convict the then-former president. Dozens of legal experts have also come to the same conclusion, noting that the case seemed far more political given that the principles who were prosecuting Trump were all Democrats.
If Merchan’s sentencing schedule stands, Trump would become the first president who was also a convicted felon.
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