No jail time, so there’s that. Judge Merchan is certainly persisting in his law fare against President Trump. Yesterday afternoon he issued his ruling that Trump will be sentenced on January 10.

President-elect Donald Trump will be sentenced on 34 counts of falsifying business records ahead of his swearing-in Jan. 20, but is not expected to face jail time, a judge ruled Friday.

The decision to uphold Trump’s conviction and schedule the sentencing for Jan. 10 almost certainly means Trump will be the first felon to serve as a U.S. president.

New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan wrote in his ruling that he does not intend to sentence Trump to jail. He said he plans to order an “unconditional discharge,” a designation in New York criminal courts for a non-jail and non-probation sentence that carries no other obligations.

Merchan has had plenty of time to schedule a sentencing hearing. But he waits until now to schedule it exactly TEN DAYS before the inauguration. This was purposeful and I’d say a continuation of the law fare against Trump. 

Merchan turned the entire trial into a sideshow with the willing assistance of Alvin Bragg’s office. Keep in mind, Bragg dug up an incredibly obscure law to make his case against Trump. 

Bragg, an elected Democrat, used an unusual and dense legal theory — giving critics room to attack the case as a selective prosecution of the then-frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination.

The theory of the case was that Trump’s crimes were multi-layered.

First, falsifying business records is a misdemeanor — but doing it to cover up another crime is a felony. That crime, prosecutors said, was that the payoff was part of an illegal scheme to hide sex scandals from voters before the 2016 presidential election, where Trump ended up defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.

As I noted above, Merchan turned the proceedings into one long circus. He let the prosecution repeat for the record multiple lies, did nothing when Michael Cohen admitted ON THE STAND that he embezzled from the Trump organization, and Merchan allowed information in about nonexistent campaign finance violations. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for that sham trial!

But now it’s the right time for sentencing per his ruling, which you can read in full here. 

What’s amazing is that the prosecutors didn’t want a sentencing hearing and wanted the case put on hold…indefinitely.

Prosecutors had asked Merchan to place the case on indefinite hold, but the judge said sentencing is “the most viable solution to ensure finality” and to allow Trump to pursue an appeal.

However, Merchan wrote he’s not inclined to impose jail time — even though the conviction would allow it — because prosecutors “concede they no longer view [it] as a practicable recommendation” given Trump’s reelection.

Yet Merchan persists. There won’t be jail time, which I’m sure is pissing off Democrats everywhere, but there will be a sentence. Thus they’ll gleefully paint President Trump as a felon every single chance they get. All while ignoring that Merchan perverted our system of justice. 

Judge Merchan is an out of control and corrupt man. He scheduled Trump’s sentencing before his inauguration?

He should have never been on this case to begin with. He should have recused himself at its inception.

– The day after he issued a gag order (which was unprecedented)…

— Insurrection Barbie (@DefiyantlyFree) January 3, 2025

The rest reads as follows:

– The day after he issued a gag order (which was unprecedented) against Trump his daughter posts a picture of Trump behind bars.

– his daughter had made 90 million dollars consulting for prominent Democrats, was this a payment for services her father rendered?

This is such an open and shut case of bias is makes all the other cases of bias pale in comparison.

– Merchan is an acting judge he is not even one of the 24 sitting judges who could have been randomly selected to get the Trump case. How did an acting judge who donated to an organization called Stop Trump get the Trump organization case, the Trump case fake hush money case and the Bannon case?

– this is the same judge who refused to let the former commissioner of the FEC testify that there was no federal election law violation. Trumps attorneys wanted to call him as a witness and Judge Merchan refused to allow him to testify.

– the jury convicted without agreeing on the theory of the crime

This entire case from start to finish has been a perversion of our justice system.

Banana Republic.

I couldn’t agree more. And yes, we wrote about Merchan’s daughter here. There are many problems with how Merchan handled this case in the court, and there are definitive grounds for appeal. 

…The sentence will finalize the case and allow for an appeal. However, it would also label the President-elect a convicted felon just before he is sworn into office. It is the final cathartic act for lawfare warriors…

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) January 3, 2025

…we will also finally be able to see an appeal of his case. While there are low expectations for the New York court system, the sentencing will allow the full array of alleged errors by Merchan to be placed before appellate judges.

— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) January 3, 2025

The list of errors is very very long, so it will make an appeal case very interesting. 

President Trump isn’t amused and I don’t blame him. 

President-elect Donald Trump slammed Judge Juan Merchan for denying his request to dismiss the charges against him in New York v. Trump, telling Fox News Digital Democrats “just want to see if they can get a pound of flesh because every case has failed.”

~Snip

The president-elect went on to call Merchan “the most conflicted judge in the history of jurisprudence.”

“There has never been a judge as conflicted as this one,” Trump said. “There was no case. He created a case out of nothing because he wanted my political opponent to win.”

Andy McCarthy believes that Trump can appeal immediately based upon Merchan’s immunity ruling and the use of the word “fully” in his sentencing order.

“This Court must sentence Defendant within a reasonable time following verdict; and Defendant must be permitted to avail himself of every available appeal, a path he has made clear he intends to pursue but which only becomes fully available upon sentencing. [Emphasis added.]”

Keep in mind, one had to be living deep under a massive boulder to not know that Trump was convicted in May during this sham trial that was pure law fare, yet American citizens saw through that and voted for him in November.

This sentencing decision by Mechan is, in my opinion, based upon pure spite. 

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