Legal experts say that Trump’s conviction is not likely to be a result of an indefinite prison sentence

NPR Washington Desk

31/05/2024

The former president Donald Trump sits at the defendant’s table on Thursday in the courthouse in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City. Justin Lane/Pool/Getty images cover captions

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Justin Lane/Pool/Getty Images

The president of the past Donald Trump is now an indicted felon however, experts in the field of law have been told by NPR the odds are that that he is likely to be incarcerated.

The New York jury on Thursday found the former president to be guilty of 34 felony charges in his unprecedented Hush Money case. Trump declared the trial “disgraceful” and his legal team has indicated that it will appeal.

The charges are for faking documents to cover up a different criminal act could can result in a maximum penalty to four years’ imprisonment however, Trump could be given a much less severe punishment, such as probation.

Lauren-Brooke E. Eisen, the director at the non-profit Brennan Center for Justice, spoke to that NPR’s reporter Ximena Bustillo prior to hearing the verdict the following “very unlikely for someone who has never been convicted of a crime to go to prison … for their first offense, which is nonviolent.”

Georgetown University law professor and attorney Paul Butler, a former federal prosecutor who is an expert on legal issues in criminal cases, also told NPR on Thursday night the evening of Thursday, that Trump will likely not receive the time in prison.

A few former prosecutors, however, told Politico that incarceration might be more likely than what conventional wisdom suggests.

New York Judge Juan Merchan scheduled sentencing for the 11th day of July which is just a few days prior to that Republican National Convention.

Butler stated that Merchan could also delay his sentence until appeals procedure has been exhausted.

The sentence could also have a direct effect on Trump’s rights to vote. (There’s no bar against Trump being able to run for president while convicted of felonies.)

The voting rights of those who have been convicted of a felony differ states to states. Former presidents are registered in Florida.

“Florida has interpreted its statute to say that a felony conviction in another state makes a person ineligible to vote in Florida,” Justin Levitt who is an expert in election law from Loyola Marymount University and a former Justice Department official, said to NPR earlier in the year. “[But] only if the conviction would make the person ineligible to vote wherever they were convicted.”

Additionally, New York restricts the voting rights of those who have been who are convicted of felonies however, only when they are in jail.

If Trump isn’t sentenced to prison in connection with his New York conviction, he’s likely to be eligible to cast an election in the next fall.

Stephen Fowler and Clayton Kincade helped write this story.