Trump’s Sentencing Looms in New York Business Records Case

January 10, 2025 TruthUSA

Trump had requested the Supreme Court’s involvement after both the judge and a New York appeals court dismissed his efforts to delay sentencing.

NEW YORK CITY—President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on January 10 in his business records case, just 10 days prior to his inauguration.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has already suggested that he will not impose any prison time or monetary penalties on Trump.

In a January 3 order, Merchan expressed his belief that an incarceration sentence was unlikely, noting concerns over presidential immunity and stating, “an unconditional discharge appears to be the most viable solution.” He also allowed Trump the option to appear virtually rather than attend in person.

With an unconditional discharge, Merchan is not anticipated to impose any significant punishment; rather, he is expected to enter a judgment of conviction paired with a statement condemning Trump’s actions.

“He’s going to take an opportunity to try to give Trump a tongue lashing, to try to make him look bad,” commented John Malcolm, Vice President of the Heritage Foundation, in an interview with The Epoch Times. Malcolm, who oversees the foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, indicated that Merchan may rebuke Trump for disregarding the rule of law but ultimately refrain from imposing a sentence due to Trump’s imminent assumption of office.

The sentencing follows a nearly two-year legal struggle that began when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump in April 2023. The jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in May 2024, stemming from alleged payments made to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels.

Throughout this case, Merchan imposed numerous gag orders on Trump, held him in contempt ten times, and threatened jail time. On January 3, Merchan accused Trump of showing contempt for the judiciary.

Merchan’s comments were made as he dismissed the notion that Trump’s character should be a reason to overturn the jury’s verdict.

“Defendant’s disdain for the Third Branch of government, whether state or federal, in New York or elsewhere, is a matter of public record,” he stated. “Indeed, Defendant has gone to great lengths to broadcast on social media and other forums his lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries, and the justice system as a whole.”

Trump has maintained his innocence and dismissed the case as baseless.

Just prior to sentencing, he filed multiple appeals in an effort to delay the sentencing date and to contest the legitimacy of the case.

On January 7, a New York appeals court denied his request to pause the sentencing process, prompting the next day for the president-elect to seek the intervention of the U.S. Supreme Court.

He submitted his application for a stay to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who asked Bragg’s office to respond by 10 a.m. on January 9. Later that same day, the court turned down Trump’s request to halt the sentencing.

Trump has urged the court to evaluate whether he is entitled to an automatic stay, and whether Merchan’s acceptance of certain evidence contravened the principle of presidential immunity. He also queried whether presidential immunity applies to presidents-elect, a point Merchan had dismissed on January 3.

Merchan further rejected Trump’s assertions that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. United States—which established that presidents enjoy specific levels of immunity from criminal prosecution—undermined Bragg’s case.

Merchan declared in a December 16, 2024, opinion that Trump had delayed too long in filing objections to Bragg’s use of specific evidence, asserting that the evidence in question dealt with unofficial conduct and was therefore not shielded by the doctrine of presidential immunity.

In a post on Truth Social on December 17, 2024, Trump criticized Merchan’s rulings regarding the presidential immunity arguments. Trump claimed that Merchan had “completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court and its Historic Decision on Immunity.”

The president-elect contended that Merchan’s opinion “contradicts our Constitution and, if permitted to remain, would spell the end of the Presidency as we know it.”

Regardless of the outcome at sentencing, Trump may still attempt to overturn the conviction based on arguments related to presidential immunity or other considerations. He has informed multiple courts that he is entitled to an automatic stay due to the nature of presidential immunity, but both Merchan and the New York Appellate Division, First Judicial Department, have disagreed, dismissing his appeals.

The New York state business records case is one of two remaining criminal cases against Trump; two others brought by special counsel Jack Smith were dismissed. Following Trump’s electoral success in November 2024, Smith moved to dismiss the Washington election interference case and an associated appeal regarding the Florida classified documents case, citing a longstanding Department of Justice assertion that prosecuting sitting presidents contravenes the Constitution.

Furthermore, Trump’s other outstanding criminal case in Georgia encountered complications last month when an appeals court ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified. The trajectory of that case remains uncertain, and legal experts question whether a state prosecution can proceed without breaching the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution.

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