By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – On Friday, a New York judge imposed a sentence that ensures Donald Trump will be the first convicted felon to enter the White House when he is sworn in as president on Jan. 20.
It was a brief and relatively calm final encounter of Trump’s relationship with Justice Juan Merchan over 21 months and featured accusations of political bias from the former and stern dressings-down from the latter.
Prosecutors charged Trump, 78, in April 2023 with falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star.
Although Trump will avoid jail, fines and probation, Merchan’s sentence of unconditional discharge puts Trump’s May 2024 conviction by a jury on his permanent record.
Outside the courtroom during a six-week trial, the former and future president assailed Merchan, making the judge a centerpiece of his public relations campaign vilifying the indictment.
The Republican businessman-turned-politician called Merchan, 62, a “radical partisan” in league with Trump’s Democratic rivals. His lawyers sought the judge’s disqualification, citing Merchan’s daughter’s work for a Democratic consultancy.
Trump even alluded to Merchan’s Colombian heritage as evidence of bias, telling reporters on May 21 last year to “take a look at where he comes from.”
Merchan did not engage with Trump’s personal attacks but let it be known he did not appreciate his out-of-court rhetoric.
GAG ORDER, FINES
Before the trial, the judge imposed a gag order restricting Trump’s comments on some people involved in the case. He fined Trump $10,000 for violating the order several times and threatened to jail him if he ran afoul of it again.
After the trial, on Jan. 3, Merchan slammed Trump’s “lack of respect for judges, juries, grand juries and the justice system as a whole” and rejected his last-ditch bid to have the verdict tossed due to his victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
The case represented a career pinnacle for Merchan, who emigrated with his family from Colombia to New York City as a child, became a prosecutor in 1994 and was appointed a judge to the New York City Family Court in 2006. He took the bench where he now presides in 2009.
But the case, as the first-ever criminal trial of a U.S. president past or present, presented unprecedented challenges.
The judge delayed Trump’s sentencing, initially scheduled for July 11, three times. In a September ruling pushing the sentencing back until after the election at Trump’s request, Merchan wrote that he did not want to be perceived as having a political motive.
Those delays, together with Trump’s victory and looming return to the White House, left Merchan with little choice but to sentence Trump to unconditional discharge, meaning no jail or other legal punishment.
“The considerable, indeed extraordinary, legal protection afforded by the office of the chief executive is a factor that overrides all others,” Merchan said. “Despite the extraordinary breadth of those protections, one power they do not provide is the power to erase jury verdicts.”
Friday’s half-hour hearing, largely a formality after Merchan previewed the sentence he intended to impose, lacked the invective that had come to characterize their relationship.
“I was treated very, very unfairly, and I thank you very much,” Trump said.
In the end Merchan said: “Sir, I wish you Godspeed as you assume your second term in office.”
(Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Howard Goller)
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