Now that the jury in Donald Trump's criminal trial has made the historic decision to convict him, the judge overseeing the case will soon face a monumental choice: whether to sentence the 2024 Republican presidential candidate to time behind bars. After the 12-member jury handed down its verdict finding Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records he faced, Merchan set the former U.S. president's sentencing for July 11. Prison time is rare for people convicted in New York state of felony falsification of business records, the charge Trump, a businessman-turned-politician, faced at his six-week trial. But legal experts said precedent can only be so helpful in guiding Merchan's decision on the appropriate sentence in the first criminal trial of a U.S. president past or present. "Typically this is not the kind of case where you would expect a first-time white-collar offender to receive a sentence of incarceration," said New York defense lawyer Andrew Weinstein, who in 2009 represented a man sentenced to three years' conditional discharge after pleading guilty to falsifying business records as part of a check-cashing scheme.

"But everything about Trump is different, so I don't think you can look historically at other sentences because he's just a different animal," Weinstein said. Trump, 77, was found guilty of falsifying his New York-based real estate company's books to cover up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to buy her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she alleges she had with Trump a decade earlier. Prosecutors say the hush money payment was part of a broader scheme in violation of campaign finance and tax laws to pay off people with potentially negative information about Trump. Trump had pleaded not guilty to the 34 felony counts. He denies having sex with Daniels and will almost certainly appeal the conviction. The maximum sentence for falsification of business records is four years imprisonment.

Six legal experts - including defense lawyers and former prosecutors – told it was rare for people without criminal histories - like Trump - who are charged solely with falsification of business records to be sentenced to prison time in New York, with punishments such as fines being more common. But they said such a sentence would not be impossible, and cautioned that it was too early to predict what punishment Trump could face if convicted. In deciding the sentence, Merchan may weigh the underlying seriousness of the charges due to their ties to the 2016 election, as well as Trump's decision to go to trial rather than accept responsibility by pleading guilty. In a press conference after the verdict, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the charges, declined to say whether his office would seek a prison sentence.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan