(AFP) – New York prosecutors said they would not oppose Donald Trump’s request to delay sentencing for his hush money conviction, leaving a decision up to the judge who presided over the case. In a letter to Judge Juan Merchan released on Monday, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said it will “defer” to the court on the sentencing date.
The 78-year-old former president is scheduled to be sentenced on September 18 for covering up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleged they had a sexual encounter. Trump’s lawyers last week asked Merchan to push back the Republican presidential nominee’s sentencing until after the November 5 election between Trump and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s attorneys, argued that the September 18 date does not allow Trump enough time to potentially appeal the outcome of a separate motion on presidential immunity arising from a recent Supreme Court ruling.
Trump was convicted by a New York jury in May of 34 counts of doctoring business records to cover up payments to Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election. In the letter to Merchan, prosecutors said they would “defer to the Court on the appropriate post-trial schedule” that allows time to address the immunity motion “while also pronouncing sentence ‘without unreasonable delay.'” “The People are prepared to appear for sentencing on any future date the Court sets,” they said.
Merchan has already postponed Trump’s sentencing once. He had been scheduled to be sentenced on July 11 but the judge delayed it after the Supreme Court ruled that an ex-president enjoys some immunity from criminal prosecution. Trump is the first former president ever convicted of a crime. He has been doing everything in his power to delay multiple trials against him until after the election. He faces charges in Washington and the state of Georgia related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
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