Judge denies Donald Trump’s request to delay sentencing in hush money case

US President-elect Donald Trump. Photo / Getty Images

Judge Juan Merchan ruled last week that Donald Trump’s sentencing should go ahead on Friday local time despite the United States President-elect’s upcoming inauguration.

In doing so, the judge rejected a defence lawyers’ arguments that Trump’s election victory should end the case.

Merchan, in a two-page decision, noted that prosecutors had opposed delaying the sentencing and said it should go ahead as planned, barring a last-minute successful appeal by Trump to a higher court.

“This Court has considered Defendant’s arguments in support of his motion and finds that they are for the most part, a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past,” Merchan said.

“Defendant’s motion for a stay of these proceedings, including the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, is hereby denied,” the judge added.

Merchan has given Trump, the first former US President ever convicted of a crime, the option of appearing either in person or virtually at the sentencing and has said he was not inclined to impose jail time on the former and future President.

Trump’s lawyers had asked the judge to delay sentencing while they appeal his conviction by a Manhattan jury.

He was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election to stop her from revealing an alleged 2006 sexual encounter.

Trump was certified as the winner of the 2024 presidential election today NZT, four years after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol as he sought to overturn his 2020 defeat. He is to be sworn in as President on January 20.

Trump’s lawyers had sought to have the case dismissed on multiple grounds, including the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last year that former US presidents have sweeping immunity from prosecution for a range of official acts committed while in office.

In an 18-page decision last week, Merchan rejected the motions but noted that Trump will be immune from prosecution once he is sworn in as President.

He said he was leaning towards giving Trump an unconditional discharge – meaning the New York real estate tycoon would not only avoid the threat of jail but would escape conditions of any kind.

The sentence would nevertheless see Trump entering the White House as a convicted criminal.

The 78-year-old Trump potentially faced up to four years in prison but legal experts – even before he won the November presidential election – did not expect Merchan to incarcerate him.

-Agence France-Presse