2024.0412

Number of words in this article:1421, reading time is about 2 minutes

introduction：美国前总统特朗普将于4月15日在纽约接受“封口费”刑事案件的审判——这将是美国有史以来首次针对前总统的刑事审判。

** Author| ** First Finance Sun Zhuo

Former U.S. President Trump will stand trial in New York on April 15 in a criminal case for "hush money"-the first criminal trial in U.S. history against a former president.

Trump had previously tried to postpone the trial of the case, but Judge Juan Merchan rejected his request to postpone the trial date of the "hush money" case.

According to Xinhua Agency reports, Prague, the prosecutor in the case, charged Trump with 34 felony charges at the end of March last year, accusing him of entrusting private lawyer Michael Cohen to pay porn star Daniels US$130,000 in "hush money" to prevent the scandal from affecting his 2016 presidential campaign, and then falsifying business records and returning Cohen's advance payments in installments in the name of "legal fees" to cover up his violation of New York state and federal election laws.

Among the four criminal prosecutions currently facing Trump, the "hush money" case may be the only criminal case that will be tried before the U.S. election in November.

Under New York state law, Trump faces 34 felony charges in the case, with each count carrying a maximum sentence of 4 years.

▲资料图（新华社）

How long will you be sentenced?

Trump's sentence will be decided by Murcha. This month, Trump issued a "gag order" after announcing on social media that Mercha's daughter was working for the Democratic campaign. Mercha said Trump "has a history of attacking the families of judges and lawyers in his legal cases."

John Moscow, a New York lawyer who has worked in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for 30 years, said Trump's behavior could aggravate the sentence he will face.

"If I were (Trump's) legal representative, I would suggest to him that the judge is the one who imposes the sentence and he should be careful." Moscow said.

In 2023, Murcha announced the sentencing of former Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to five months in prison. Mercha said he had previously accepted a plea bargain between Weisselberg and prosecutors, which included a term in prison. Weiselberg pleaded guilty to tax and record forgery charges and agreed to testify at trial against the Trump Organization.

Are you facing imprisonment?

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Under New York state law, the 34 felonies facing Trump are classified as "Class E felonies," the lowest level of felonies in the state. The maximum penalty for each count is 4 years in prison, and the judge has discretion to order Trump to serve both sentences for each count or sequentially. New York State's maximum penalty for a Class E felony is 20 years.

In addition, New York judges often set the scope of sentencing, so that imprisoned people are eligible for parole early in their sentence. For a Class E felony, the minimum sentence for each count is 1.3 years and the maximum sentence is 4 years. Sentences for good behavior in prison can be reduced.

Mitchell Epner, a New York lawyer with decades of criminal law experience, predicts that since Trump's felony charges involve neither violence nor drugs,"for a defendant with no criminal record, I think the outcome will be, he will be sentenced to probation."

Anna Cominsky, a professor of criminal law at New York Law School, agreed with the expectation of probation,"This is a case that does not involve any physical violence and there is no 'designated victim', so the court will take this into account."

she said:"I think given his identity, it is unlikely that he will be sent to prison because he has no criminal record and he is a former president of the United States, which is an unavoidable fact."

Diana Florence, a criminal lawyer who has worked in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for decades, said many convicted defendants are "held" pending sentencing, and in the process defendants will be detained while awaiting sentencing.

Florence said she did not think Judge Murcha would make a similar verdict against Trump. Moreover, even if Murcha made a "imprisonment" verdict, the appeals court would set a bail of thousands of dollars for Trump, allowing him to remain free during the appeal.

Florence said this would be more likely to happen if Trump was ultimately given a light sentence because the appeal process could be longer than his actual sentence.

"I think whether he is convicted in six weeks or at any time, there is less than a 1 percent chance that he will go to jail immediately because he will be released on bail immediately pending appeal." Florence said.

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