George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Tuesday that President-elect Donald Trump would benefit from Judge Juan Merchan sentencing him promptly in his New York case.
Merchan on Tuesday granted a joint request by prosecutors and defense attorneys to halt all deadlines in the case until Nov. 19, including Trump’s sentencing. Turley, on “Outnumbered,” said that if Merchan sentences Trump, he would have grounds to appeal, but if the judge suspends the case, the president-elect wouldn’t have that option.
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“This case was lawfare. It should not have been brought. To this day, we don’t know exactly what the president was convicted of. But it’s going to take a while to be able to rectify that. This judge is unlikely to reverse his views on the evidence, the case, the underlying theory,” Turley said. “That would only come with an appellate review. The president can’t get to that review until the judge lets go of the case and actually sentences him.”
“Now with that comes a political penalty that my friend [former federal prosecutor] Andy McCarthy has noted, that he will at that point be formally a convicted person, a felon, but most of the Democrats are already referring to him that way,” he continued. “So I think that finality works to the advantage of the president, and suspension would not.”
MSNBC legal correspondent Lisa Rubin predicted Tuesday that Merchan would maintain Trump’s conviction but would not impose a prison sentence.
“Where I see this going is perhaps toward a solution where the conviction stands, but there is no sentencing and both parties agree that either Trump should be sentenced to time served or solely to probation and that no sentencing hearing is necessary or appropriate,” Rubin said.
Merchan told prosecutors to submit what they think are “appropriate steps going forward” in a filing by next week. Prosecutors asked Merchan to pause proceedings to allow them to evaluate the effect of Trump’s election victory on the case.
“The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances and that the arguments raised by defense counsel in correspondence to the People on Friday require careful consideration to ensure that any further steps in this proceeding appropriately balance the competing interests of (1) a jury verdict of guilt following trial that has the presumption of regularity; and (2) the Office of the President,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo wrote in a Nov. 10 email to Merchan.
The president-elect’s defense attorneys joined the request, arguing the case must be dismissed to “avoid unconstitutional impediments to President Trump’s ability to govern.”
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