Written by Luke Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – A judge ruled on Friday that Donald Trump should be sentenced on January 10 in the criminal case in which he was convicted of charges related to paying a bribe to a porn star, adding that he was not inclined to impose a fine. Imprisonment.

Judge Juan Merchan said he rejected Trump’s motion to dismiss the case because of his victory in the presidential election. The judge said the Republican president-elect may attend the sentencing hearing, which will take place just 10 days before his inauguration, either in person or virtually.

Merchan wrote that a sentence of “unconditional release” — meaning no custody, fine, or probation — would be “the most viable solution.”

A Trump spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Trump’s second motion to dismiss the case since his conviction in May, defense lawyers said that keeping the case pending during his presidency would hinder his ability to govern.

Merchan rejected that argument, writing that setting aside the jury verdict would “undermine the rule of law in immeasurable ways.”

“Defendant’s status as president-elect does not require a radical and ‘rare’ application of (the court’s) authority to grant a (dismissal) motion,” Merchan wrote in the decision.

Trump was initially scheduled to be sentenced on November 26, but Merchan postponed it indefinitely after Trump defeated Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the November 5 election.

Prosecutors in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who prosecuted the case, said there were measures that fall short of the “maximum remedy” of overturning the jury’s verdict, which could allay Trump’s concerns about being distracted by a criminal case while serving as president. .

They suggested several options for Merchan, including delaying sentencing until Trump, 78, leaves the White House in 2029, or ensuring a sentence that does not involve prison time.

Prosecutors also said the judge could simply end the case by noting that Trump was never sentenced and that his conviction was not affirmed or overturned on appeal. They said a similar approach has been used in cases where the accused dies after being convicted but before being sentenced.

The case stems from a sum of $130,000 paid by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels. This payment was in exchange for her silence before the 2016 elections regarding a sexual encounter she said she had a decade ago with Trump, who denies it.

Last May, a Manhattan jury convicted Trump of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up payments. This was the first time that a US president – former or sitting – had been convicted or charged with a criminal offense.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and called the case an attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to damage his 2024 campaign.

Trump on December 16 lost a separate bid to overturn the conviction in light of the US Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling that presidents cannot be criminally prosecuted for their official actions, and that evidence of their official actions cannot be presented in criminal cases involving personal conduct. .

In rejecting Trump’s proposal to fire Merchan, he said prosecution for “crucial personal acts of falsifying business records poses no risk of interference with the authority and function of the executive branch.”

Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years in prison, but imprisonment is not required. Before he won the election, legal experts said Trump was unlikely to be imprisoned due to his lack of criminal history and age.

Trump was indicted in three more state and federal criminal cases in 2023: one related to secret documents he kept after leaving office and two more related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

He pleaded not guilty in all three cases. The Justice Department moved to dismiss the two federal cases after Trump won the election.

Trump’s state criminal case in Georgia on charges stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state is in limbo.