The judge leading Donald Trump’s criminal trial for falsifying documents announced Tuesday that he was postponing sentencing, granting a request from the former US president’s lawyers.
Judge Juan Merchan was scheduled to deliver the sentence on July 11.
Citing the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity on Monday, the defense asked the judge to first consider its move to overturn the jury’s verdict
which concluded Donald Trump’s guilt just over a month ago.
Even if she says she judges the arguments of the accused […] unfounded
the prosecution team, in a letter written by Joshua Steinglass, had said it did not oppose the defense’s request.
Their position may have played a role in the judge’s decision.
In their respective letters to the court, the defense stated that it intended to file the relevant court documents on July 10; the Manhattan District Attorney requested an additional two weeks to respond.
On May 20, Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsifying documents, in a case that prosecutors linked to election interference.
After becoming the first former White House resident to face criminal trial, he became the first to be convicted.
The impact of the decision on presidential immunity
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Justices of the United States Supreme Court
Photo : afp via getty images / OLIVIER DOULIERY
Last March, before the trial, Judge Merchan had refused to delay the trial until the Supreme Court ruled on presidential immunity, invoked by Donald Trump in another case.
In a decision largely in favor of Donald Trump, the conservative-majority court concluded Monday that a former president enjoys immunity of considerable scope, but that it does not extend to acts committed in a personal capacity.
The New York trial, the only one of Donald Trump’s four criminal trials to end in a verdict, is also the only one centered on charges unrelated to his presidency.
