US President-elect Donald Trump has escaped any legal punishment other than a criminal record for his crimes after a judge on Friday gave him an alternative punishment called unconditional discharge.
Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling spares Trump any prison time, fines or probation for his conviction, although the ruling cements his status as the first convicted felon to serve in the White House.
The new president appeared remotely on the courtroom television screens with his lawyer during the hearing. Trump seized the opportunity to address the court, protesting his innocence and saying the case was a “tremendous setback” for the justice system.
“I am completely innocent, I did nothing wrong,” said Trump, who takes office on January 20.
The president-elect was convicted in May on charges that he falsified business records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to erupt during his first presidential campaign in 2016.
A jury found him guilty on all 34 counts, making him the first president to be convicted as a felon.
Trump, 78, fought hard to prevent his historic conviction, including through an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court this week. Late Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected this by a slim 5-4 majority.
Trump’s crimes each carried a penalty of up to four years in prison and $5,000 in fines. However, the competent courts have the power to impose a different punishment if they consider it appropriate based on all the circumstances of the crime and the perpetrator.
Under New York law, a judge can opt for an unconditional release if he or she believes that a prison sentence or probation is not in the best interest of the public.
“An unconditional dismissal is virtually punitive,” said David Dorfman, a law professor at Pace University in New York, in an interview with CBC News on Friday.
“They are now forever known as criminals, but essentially the 34 convictions have no direct consequences. The former and future president owes nothing to the courts.”
Former US President Donald Trump has been found guilty in his hush money trial in New York. CBC’s Anya Zoledziowski breaks down the key evidence and witnesses that led the jury to the historic conviction.
Dorfman said Merchan was bound by sentencing guidelines. In this case, Trump is the first nonviolent offender to be convicted of the lowest-level crime in New York – and imprisoning the President of the United States would be deeply unfeasible.
“I think Judge Merchan would have been much harsher against him if he had lost the election,” said Dorfman, who is not connected to the case.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the court Friday that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office supports Merchan’s planned sentencing.
“The verdict in this case was unanimous and decisive, and it must be respected,” Steinglass said.
Trump can appeal
Following the conviction, Trump is now free to formally appeal the jury’s verdict. He cannot pardon himself because these presidential powers only apply to federal crimes, not those committed at the state level.
Canada is one of dozens of countries around the world that deny entry to criminals. It will likely be up to Canada’s immigration minister to grant Trump special status so that he can enter the country legally in the future.
The New York case centered on porn star Stormy Daniels, who, in the middle of Trump’s first presidential campaign, threatened to go public about an extramarital encounter between them in 2006.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen negotiated a $130,000 hush money payment to silence Daniels.
Trump paid him back, but Cohen told jurors last spring that the former president orchestrated a plan to falsify records and cover up the deal.
In a final attempt to stop the U.S. Supreme Court’s conviction, Trump’s lawyers argued that their client was entitled to full immunity because of his Nov. 5 election victory.
The lawsuit relied on a landmark Supreme Court ruling last year that granted former presidents broad immunity for official actions.
Five Supreme Court justices rejected Trump’s last-minute request to halt his conviction, saying Trump could address his stated concerns through the due process of appeal. They also found that the burden the conviction would place on the president-elect’s responsibilities was “relatively insignificant.”
Individual Trump cases fizzle out after the election victory
The hush money case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal charges to go to trial. Both stemmed from an investigation launched before Trump announced his intention to run for a second term.
Since Trump’s election victory, special counsel Jack Smith has attempted to dismiss two federal cases.
One involved Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to hundreds of his supporters storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In the other case, Trump was accused of hoarding classified documents at his estates in Florida and New Jersey. They resisted several government attempts to get him to return them after his first term as president ended.
There are ongoing legal disputes over the release of the special counsel’s reports on these cases.
Trump was impeached in Georgia over 2020 election interference. This case is largely on hold.
