Judge Juan Merchan announced Friday that he would postpone handing down former President Donald Trump’s sentence in the New York hush money trial until after the November election.
Merchan said Trump’s sentencing, which had been scheduled for Sept. 18, would be moved to Nov. 26. Voters will therefore head to the polls on Nov. 5 without knowing whether the judge could require Trump to go to jail after being found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Trump still faces a maximum prison sentence of four years behind bars, though most experts believe that Merchan will issue a lesser punishment.
In May, a Manhattan jury handed down its guilty verdicts stemming from Trump’s efforts to obscure a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Merchan initially delayed a July 11 sentencing hearing in the case so that the Supreme Court could rule on the question of whether presidential immunity protected Trump from prosecution.
Trump’s lawyers, who have appealed the verdict in the case, had argued that the sentencing should be moved so as not to conflict with Election Day.
“By adjourning the sentencing until after that election — which is of paramount importance to the entire nation,” the lawyers said in a court filing, “the court would reduce, even if not eliminate, issues regarding the integrity of any future proceedings.”
