Sept. 6 (UPI) — Former President Donald Trump will not be sentenced for his conviction on election-related fraud over hush money payments until after the U.S. election on November 5, a judge ruled Friday.
New York State Supreme Court justice Juan Merchan pushed the sentencing date back from September 18 until November 26, citing “the unique time frame this matter currently finds itself in.”
A Manhattan jury in late May convicted Trump of all 34 counts against him in the New York hush-money trial.
The jury found the former president and current GOP presidential nominee guilty of doctoring business records to hide hush money paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to hide their alleged affair from the voting public in the run-up to the 2016 election.
Trump originally was scheduled to be sentenced July 11, but that date was postponed amid the appeals process.
The former president’s legal team has twice tried unsuccessfully to move the case to federal court.
On Thursday, a federal judge denied the latest request to move Trump’s from the New York Supreme Court to a federal court. Friday’s sentencing postponement comes as lawyers appeal the latest decision.
“This is not a decision this court makes lightly but it is the decision which in this court’s view, best advances the interest of justice,” Merchan wrote in the four-page ruling.
“This matter is one that stands alone, in a unique place in this nation’s history.”
The judge said Friday’s ruling should also help avoid any allegations of election interference or judicial impartiality.
[The ruling should] avoid any appearance — however unwarranted — that the proceeding has been affected by or seeks to affect the approaching presidential election in which the Defendant is a candidate,” Merchan wrote in the decision.
Trump on Friday attended a Manhattan court house on a separate matter.
The former president’s lawyers argued in front of a federal appeals court that Trump should get a new trial after a jury found he sexually abused and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll.
A jury in January ordered Trump to pay more than $83 million in damages in the case.
The court will not issue a ruling Friday and clarity on the matter is not expected until after the November election.
