New York prosecutors ask judge to delay sentencing Trump until he leaves office in 2029
Prosecutors in Manhattan, New York, have informed Justice Juan Merchan that they are willing to wait till 2029 after Donald Trump must have been stripped of his presidential immunity to get him sentenced for his hush money trial.
A team of attorneys have pleaded that Mr Merchan holds off on sentencing the president-elect convicted of 34 felony counts in May for trying to cover up a sexual indiscretion with an adult worker before the 2016 elections.
The prosecutors prayed the court to allow them to present their argument on December 9 against Mr Trump’s lawyers, who asked that the case be thrown out, asserting that a looming sentence would impair “President Trump’s ability to govern.”
Mr Trump’s lawyers contended that the prosecutors’ argument reeked of “glaring holes” validated by the Supreme Court’s ruling that justified the president-elect’s moves to overturn the 2020 polls provided he was acting in an official capacity.
The senior court, in July, returned the case to lower courts to determine which of Mr Trump’s actions could be deemed official and non-official in the wake of the 2020 elections.
Mr Trump was convicted by a grand jury on all 34 counts in May.
While prosecutors said they respect the immunities that come with the presidency, they asked the court to consider the peculiarity of the matter in that the trial began when Mr Trump had no immunity.
They said immunity does not guarantee the automatic dismissal of “a post-trial criminal proceeding that was initiated at a time when the defendant was not immune from criminal prosecution and that is based on unofficial conduct.”
The judge over the matter, Mr Merchan, will make the final decision whether to toss out the case as requested by Mr Trump’s lawyers or delay his sentencing till 2029 when he would have lost immunity.
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