The judge in Donald J. Trump’s Manhattan criminal case delayed his sentencing until Sept. 18 so that he can weigh whether a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court might imperil the former president’s conviction, the judge said Tuesday in a letter to prosecutors and defense lawyers.
The judge, Juan M. Merchan, may ultimately find no basis to overturn the jury’s verdict, but Tuesday’s delay is a surprising setback for the case, which had led to the first conviction of an American president. The sentencing had been likely to be the only moment of criminal accountability for the twice-impeached and four-time-indicted former president whose other cases are mired in delay.
Mr. Trump, who was convicted of falsifying business records related to his cover-up of a sex scandal during his 2016 presidential campaign, was scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, just days before he is to be formally nominated for president at the Republican National Convention. He faces up to four years in prison, though he could receive as little as a few weeks in jail, or probation.
On Monday, the planned sentencing hit a snag when the Supreme Court granted Mr. Trump broad immunity from prosecution for official actions taken as president. The landmark ruling, which was decided 6-3 along partisan lines, dealt a major blow to Mr. Trump’s federal criminal case in Washington, where he is accused of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The ruling appears to have little direct bearing on the Manhattan case, which concerns Mr. Trump’s personal activity during the 2016 campaign, not his presidency or official acts. And Justice Merchan might be skeptical of Mr. Trump’s effort to use the ruling to set aside his conviction.
Yet Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued on Monday that prosecutors had built their case partly on evidence from his time in the White House. And under the Supreme Court’s new ruling, prosecutors not only cannot charge a president for any official acts, but also cannot cite evidence involving official acts to bolster other accusations.
In a letter to Justice Merchan, Mr. Trump’s lawyers on Monday asked the judge to postpone the sentencing while he considered their request to set aside the conviction. In response, the district attorney’s office wrote that prosecutors did not oppose Mr. Trump’s request.
“Although we believe defendant’s arguments to be without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to file and his putative request to adjourn sentencing pending determination of his motion,” wrote Joshua Steinglass, one of the assistant district attorneys who tried the case against the former president.
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