Judge Merchan Denies Trump’s Request to Delay Sentencing

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TOWNHALL | Published January 7, 2025

Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan denied President-elect Donald Trump’s request on Monday to halt the sentencing in his hush-money case. Trump’s legal team filed a motion, called an Article 78 motion, earlier in the day to delay his sentencing, which is currently scheduled for January 10 at 9:30 a.m.—just ten days before he is inaugurated as the 47th president on January 20.

“Defendant’s motion for a stay of these proceedings, including the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, is hereby DENIED,” Merchan wrote in his decision. “This Court has considered Defendant’s arguments in support of his motion and finds that they are for the most part, a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past. Further, this Court finds that the authorities relied upon in the instant motion by the Defendant are for the most part, factually distinguishable from the actual record or legally inapplicable.”

The order was issued after Trump filed a lawsuit against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan, challenging the judge’s rejection of his motions for presidential immunity. In the lawsuit, the president-elect’s legal team contended that Judge Merchan overstepped his authority by rejecting Trump’s claim of presidential immunity in his ruling last week. The attorneys also objected to the judge’s order requiring Trump to appear for sentencing—either in person or virtually—on January 10, following his conviction in May.

Defense attorneys Todd Blanche and Emil Bove reacted to the news, saying “forcing a President to continue to defend a criminal case — potentially through trial or, even more dramatically here, through sentencing and judgment — while the appellate courts are still grappling with his claim of immunity would, in fact, force that President ‘to answer for his conduct in court’ before his claim of immunity is finally adjudicated.”

Trump spokesperson and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital demanded an “immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and all of the remaining Witch Hunts.”

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SOURCE: www.townhall.com

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DAILY MAIL ONLINE | Published January 7, 2025

President-elect Donald Trump was thwarted in his bid to indefinitely postpone this week’s sentencing in his hush-money case while he appeals against a ruling that upheld the verdict and put him on course to be the first president to take office convicted of crimes.

Manhattan Judge Juan M Merchan ordered Friday’s sentencing to proceed as scheduled, rejecting arguments from Mr Trump’s lawyers who said it should be halted while they ask a state appeals court to reverse his decision to let the conviction stand.

Mr Trump can still ask the appeals court to intervene and order a stay or pause. Otherwise, he’ll be sentenced a little more than a week before he is inaugurated to a second term.

Mr Trump’s lawyers have told Mr Merchan that if his sentencing happens, he will appear by video rather than in person.

The judge had given him the option in light of the demands of the presidential transition process.

Mr Merchan denied Mr Trump’s bid to throw out the verdict because of his impending return to the White House last Friday but signalled that he is not likely to sentence the Republican to any punishment for his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that it “would be the end of the Presidency as we know it” if it is allowed to stand.

Lawyers for Mr Trump, who are also challenging Mr Merchan’s prior refusal to dismiss the case on presidential immunity grounds, filed appeal paperwork on Monday afternoon in the appellate division of the state’s trial court. No arguments have been scheduled.

They did not ask the court to halt Mr Trump’s sentencing.

Separately, they argued to Mr Merchan that the appeal should trigger an automatic stay of proceedings and, if it doesn’t, that he should step in and do it himself — an idea he rejected.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office had urged Mr Merchan to proceed as scheduled, “given the strong public interest in prompt prosecution and the finality of criminal proceedings”.