“The July 11 sentencing date is therefore vacated” and “adjourned to September 18 if still necessary,” approximately six weeks before the date of the U.S. presidential election on November 5, 2024, New York Magistrate Juan Merchan wrote in a decision issued Tuesday.
Donald Trump faces up to four years in prison, possibly with a fine, for falsifying accounting records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels. The deal was intended to avoid a sex scandal at the tail end of his 2016 presidential campaign.
The postponement of sentencing, requested by Donald Trump’s lawyers, means that the New York sentence will come after the Republican convention, scheduled for July 15-18 in Milwaukee, where Donald Trump is to be officially sworn in as presidential candidate.
Donald Trump may be tried: Supreme Court rules out total immunity
Judge Merchan, who presided over Donald Trump’s trial in April and May, made his decision hours after the Manhattan prosecutor’s office said it was open to a delay.
On Monday, the US Supreme Court (six of whose nine justices are conservative) ruled that “the president enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts” but that he “is entitled to at least a presumption of immunity for his official acts.” Just hours after this decision, Donald Trump’s lawyers wrote to the New York judge to ask for the verdict to be overturned.
As the first former US president to be found guilty of criminal charges by a jury, Donald Trump theoretically faces a maximum of four years in prison. But Judge Juan Merchan can also choose to impose an alternative sentence to prison, such as a suspended sentence. In any case, the Republican candidate will be able to appeal, which would likely result in a suspension of the sentence before the presidential election on November 5.
