Judge considers tossing conviction in Donald Trump’s ‘hush money’ trial

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan had already delayed sentencing by more than four months to come after the election – and gave himself until next Tuesday to decide if the conviction should be tossed, The New York Post reports.Mr Trump’s overwhelming election win will further embolden his legal team “to make sure that sentencing never happens”, CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid noted late on Wednesday.

“Here, they’re never going to argue to the judge that the sentencing should never happen … now that Trump is president-elect,“ Ms Reid said.

“They will say that he is entitled to the same constitutional protections as a sitting president and should be protected from state actors, and in this case, state prosecutors.”

The 78-year-old faces up to four years in prison after being convicted of 34 counts of felony falsifying business records to cover up payments to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

Legal experts have already predicted Mr Trump won’t face hard time.

“(Judge) Merchan doesn’t have the stomach to imprison a former president or president-elect,” former prosecutor Neama Rahmani said.

“Now that Trump has won, his criminal problems go away.”

This article originally appeared on The New York Post and was reproduced with permission