WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump will not face criminal charges in New York for state crimes he was convicted of before the November election, according to a decision issued Friday by New York Judge Juan Merchan.
A New York judge announced Friday that the modern sentencing date will be November 26, according to letter released on Friday.
Merchan wrote that the court “now finds itself at a fraught moment,” referring to the rapidly approaching presidential election and the subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, which Trump’s legal team has now placed at the center of the New York case.
“A postponement of the decision on the motion and judgment, if any, should dispel any suggestion that the Court made any decision or imposed any judgment for the purpose of securing an advantage or creating a disadvantage for any political party and/or any candidate for any office,” Merchan wrote.
“The court does not make this decision lightly, but in the court’s opinion it is a decision that best serves the interests of justice,” Merchan later concluded.
Trump, who is running again for the Oval Office as the Republican Party candidate, is the first former president in history to become a felon.
He was convicted In May, he was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records after a weeks-long trial in Manhattan centered on bribes paid to a porn star before the 2016 presidential election.
Asset I asked A New York court postponed sentencing until after the 2024 election, arguing that the issue of presidential immunity in the context of the New York conviction remains unresolved.
Friday’s decision marks the second time Merchan has postponed Trump’s sentencing.
Merchant delayed Trump’s original sentence handed down in July datejust one day after the US Supreme Court hearing he ruled that former presidents enjoy criminal immunity for official “basic constitutional acts” and at least presumptive immunity for “outside the border” activities, but not for personal actions.
Trump’s lawyers he argued The Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity overturned convictions in New York State, primarily because evidence presented at trial could be considered immune.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Agreement to be delayed as the parties filed legal arguments on the immunity issue, which Bragg ultimately he argued had “no impact” on Trump’s convictions and the evidence reviewed by juries.
Trump, embroiled on several legal fronts, escalated his separate federal criminal case accusing him of interfering in the 2020 election to the Supreme Court, arguing that any criminal charges arising from his office are protected by presidential immunity.
The case, which accuses Trump of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, has been returned to a federal trial court. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Thursday released a pre-trial calendar that extends beyond this year’s November elections.
