The globalist, liberal elites are falling over themselves in anticipation of the sentencing of Donald Trump on 11 July 2024. As detailed in the material below, judge Juan Merchan has a wide discretion about what to do. He can lay down community service, such a picking up rubbish. We can imagine Democrats setting out entire streets filled with despicable rubbish which Trump has to pick up!
However, while most commentators do not see Trump being given a prison sentence, that is still possible, regardless of being a first offender. The judge can basically do what he likes, so long as it does not involve the death penalty; there has to be some vague connection to the law, although in courts to come we may see summary executions performed, perhaps immediately after sentencing, or not even any trials at all as things go the South American way. For conservatives of course, by the Left.
Former US Attorney for the District of Utah Brett L. Tolman believes that Judge Merchan will give Donald Trump jail time. "This judge has considerable power now, on July 11th he has the power to take Trump forthwith, he can take him, put him in custody right then and he can do it for whatever period of time," said Tolman, warning that despite there being a range of sentencing, "the rules are out the window, who knows what this judge will do."
"I predict he will give him some jail time, I think he will fine him, he'll give him a stern lecture and then he'll promptly plan his retirement and a book deal."
Trump behind bars will motivate the next level of attack, to remove him from the election, totally. The road to civil war has begun.
"Donald Trump could end up being forced to pick up trash from the street, clean graffiti or carry out other menial tasks if he's hit with community service as part of his sentencing for his felony conviction, experts explained.
Trump, 77, is slated to be sentenced on July 11 by Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan after making history Thursday as the first US president to be convicted of a crime.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee was found guilty by a jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records for concealing hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Here are the possible sentences Trump faces, and how his likely appeal of the verdict might play out:
The real estate tycoon faces a possible maximum of four years imprisonment for each of the 34 counts against him. If he were to be sentenced to less than a year behind bars, he'd be sent to jail, not prison.
But given that Trump was found guilty of non-violent crimes and has never been convicted before, legal experts said he's unlikely to get hard time, and is more likely to receive probation or a conditional discharge.
"Trump can get a prison sentence, probation, or even a jail sentence if he receives a year or less," criminal defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman told The Post. "He could also receive community service as part of a probationary sentence, including picking up trash on the side of the road."
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Thursday declined to say what punishment his office would seek.
Trump's lawyers must file their sentencing recommendation to Merchan by June 13, and will undoubtedly seek a no-jail term. Bragg's office must file its recommendation by June 27.
But before then, Trump will have to meet with the probation department to go over topics like his history and his thoughts about the case, so the agency can prepare a report for the judge to use at the sentencing.
"I don't expect a prison [or] jail sentence but anything is possible from this judge and this district attorney," Lichtman said.
What could probation or conditional discharge be like for Trump?The judge can impose whatever conditions he sees fit, including setting the parameters for probation or conditional release.
Trump faces up to five years of probation, which would entail a probation officer checking in with him to make sure he's meeting whatever conditions the judge lays out.
Those could include not committing another crime, paying a fine by a certain date or notifying a probation office of his travel plans, New York Law School Professor Anna Cominsky explained.
Or, the ex-president could face three years conditional discharge, which is similar to probation — in that Trump must follow the judge's rules, but wouldn't be monitored by an officer, Cominsky said.
"Conditional discharge has less supervision than probation," she said.
It could be hard logistically to have Trump monitored by a probation officer because even if he's not reelected, a former president still has to travel, host events and carry out other obligations expected of a public figure.
"A former president has a lot of responsibilities," noted criminal defense lawyer Jeremy Saland, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan DA's office. "Probation would be too administratively difficult for someone who is the former president of the US."
Merchan could opt to force Trump into community service — which the real estate mogul could either fulfill through a court-approved program or through private community service at a non-profit of his choosing.
"They can have you cleaning the street, removing graffiti or something getting your hands as dirty as that," Saland said of the community service programs.
Cominsky said other examples include working at a food bank or in a community garden.
Could Trump face monetary fines?Trump could face up to a $5,000 fine on each of the 34 counts — or a total of $170,000 — Cominsky said.
But, "for someone like Donald Trump, fines will be inconsequential," Saland said, noting in this case "the dollars are symbolic."
What will Trump likely argue in his appeal of the verdict?Trump vowed at a press conference Friday to appeal the guilty verdict, and, like any other defendant convicted at a trial, will be able to do so after he's sentenced.
The former president would first make his case to New York's mid-level Appellate Division, First Department, and then potentially to the state's highest court, which is called the New York State Court of Appeals.
Trump's lead lawyer Todd Blanche tipped his hand to some of the legal team's likely appeal strategies in an interview with CNN Thursday night.
The attorneys could claim — as they did in vain before the trial started — that Trump could not get a "fair" trial in Manhattan because jurors were overwhelmed by publicity about the case, he said.
"Our system of justice isn't supposed to be a system where every person who walks into the courtroom knows about the case," he said on CNN.
Trump's lawyers could also argue that Merchan unfairly "prejudiced" jurors by allowing Daniels to go into salacious detail on the witness stand while describing a sexual encounter with a married Trump in 2006.
The judge ruled that Daniels' racy testimony was allowed because Blanche himself had so aggressively attacked her "credibility" in his opening statement, when he called her a liar and accused her of extorting Trump by asking for money to keep her story under wraps just days before the 2016 election.
Cominsky said Trump's team will likely fight every ruling and every call the judge made at trial on objections that didn't go their way.
"Everything that happened in the trial that didn't go in favor of Trump is a basis for appeal," Cominsky explained, noting that even if Trump's team has a basis to appeal, that's not an indication of whether the bid will succeed.
"Any motion that the defense made that was denied by judge is a basis for appeal," she said. "That includes things like objections they made that were overruled, and objections that prosecutors made that were sustained."
https://modernity.news/2024/05/31/former-us-attorney-says-judge-will-give-trump-jail-time/
"Former US Attorney for the District of Utah Brett L. Tolman says Judge Merchan will give Donald Trump jail time, asserting, "The rules are out the window."
While Trump was convicted on 34 counts in a brazen political show trial, even some of his most ardent critics don't think he'll actually go to prison.
However, that's not the view of Tolman, who told Benny Johnson the United States was facing a constitutional crisis "that does change the game."
"If we realistically look at this case, there never was an acquittal possible," said Tolman, adding that he thought a hung jury was likely but that outcome was demolished by a judge who was "leaning on the scales of justice" before opening arguments even began.
"His rulings on motions to exclude evidence, his rulings during the trial, his objections to cross examination…you know it's bad when the judge takes a different tone when speaking to the prosecution versus when he speaks to the defense in front of the jury," said Tolman, adding that this clearly influenced the jury.
"This judge has considerable power now, on July 11th he has the power to take Trump forthwith, he can take him, put him in custody right then and he can do it for whatever period of time," said Tolman, warning that despite there being a range of sentencing, "the rules are out the window, who knows what this judge will do."
"I predict he will give him some jail time, I think he will fine him, he'll give him a stern lecture and then he'll promptly plan his retirement and a book deal," concluded Tolman.
Other commentators have speculated that Merchan will come down hard on Trump because Trump said mean things about him (accurately accusing him and his daughter of being Democrats) before the trial began.
However, appearing on CNN, Attorney Mark O'Mara suggested Trump would end up serving no time whatsoever because he would win on appeal.
O'Mara said the odds of Trump winning on appeal were "pretty good" because Judge Merchan didn't do everything in his power to "ensure a fair trial uninfected by the outside world."
"The idea that this jury wasn't even sequestered, not even during deliberations, not to mention that week before between trial and closings – I think that's a massive mistake," said O'Mara.
He predicted that Trump's defense team would "follow the trail" of every juror including "where they drove, what they did, every billboard they saw, all of that and that's gonna be the fire for appeal that this jury was infected with negativity, that this judge didn't protect their client from," he added.
Trump's sentencing date is set for July 11th, four days before the Republican Convention."
The Revolt of the Senators