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full screen Judge Juan Merchan refuses to throw out the conviction against Donald Trump for violating accounting laws when Trump arranged for money to be paid to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their relationship. Illustration from court proceedings in April 2024. Photo: Elizabeth Williams/AP/TT
Judge Juan Merchan refuses to throw out the verdict in which Donald Trump was convicted of accounting violations in connection with payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
The Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity does not change the validity of the sentence, according to Judge Juan Merchan.
But the last word is far from being said. The issue may ultimately end up in the Supreme Court for a decision.
President-elect Trump was convicted last spring, by a unanimous jury, as guilty on all 34 counts listed by prosecutors in the case in New York. The gist of the case was that he had arranged for money to be paid to Daniels so that, in the 2016 presidential campaign, she would keep quiet about having sex a number of years earlier. Trump denies the crime and that he had sex with Daniels.
He has not yet been sentenced, however, and prosecutors have expressed willingness to agree to delay sentencing for four years, over the term Trump begins on Jan. 20, following his election victory over Kamala Harris in November. The judge has also suggested waiting to announce the sentence.
Trump’s lawyers claim that their client, as a result of the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidents and immunity, a month after Trump was convicted, can no longer be punished and that the sentence is contrary to HD’s decision. They point out that some evidence in the case is from the time of his first term as president, 2017-2021.