QOTD -- A Felon Sentenced

 

“The protections afforded the office of the president are not a mitigating factor. They do no reduce the seriousness of the crime or justify its commission in any way.

"The protections are, however, a legal mandate which, pursuant to the rule of law, this court must respect and follow. However, despite the extraordinary breadth of those protections, one power they do not provide is the power to erase a jury verdict.

"It was the citizenry of this nation that recently decided that once again you should have the benefits of those protections which include, among other things, the supremacy clause and presidential immunity. It is through that lens and that reality that this court must determine a lawful sentence.

"This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of judgment of conviction, without encroaching on the highest office of the land is unconditional discharge.

"Therefore, at this time, I impose that sentence to cover all 34 counts."  -- Judge Juan Merchan, sentencing the MF at his felony fraud ("hush money for porn star") trial this morning in New York City. "Unconditional discharge" is a sentence that allows the jury's conviction of the MF on 34 felony counts to stand without further penalties.

Trump To Be Sentenced On Felony Charges This Morning

 

Well, hallelujah and shut my non- attorney pie hole.  A small measure of accountability will come to the Malignant Fascist (MF) this morning:

President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be sentenced Friday morning on felony charges — a history-making moment he had tried desperately to make sure wouldn't happen before his inauguration 10 days from now.

The sentencing is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. ET in New York criminal court, with Trump attending remotely.

Trump’s attorneys had repeatedly sought to stay the proceeding, which state Judge Juan Merchan scheduled last week. Their appeals to Merchan, two state appeals courts and even the country’s highest court over the past week were unsuccessful. Trump's last hope, the U.S. Supreme Court, declined to block the proceeding in a 5-4 ruling late Thursday. [Ed.:  Roberts and Coney joined the three liberal justices in the majority]

Had the sentencing been postponed until after Trump’s inauguration, his lawyers would have been able to argue that presidential immunity and his duties as commander in chief should bar the proceeding from happening.

The sentencing means Trump will make some ignominious history before he becomes only the second president to be sworn in for two nonconsecutive terms: He'll be the only president to have been sentenced on criminal charges.

Trump, in remarks to the media from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Thursday after the Supreme Court ruling, alluded to the possibility of further appeals, such as an attempt to appeal the verdict itself.  [snip]

Merchan isn’t expected to sentence Trump to any jail time. He said in a decision last week ordering the sentencing to proceed that he would most likely give Trump an unconditional discharge, a sentence that allows the conviction to stand with no further penalties.

He is, however, likely to blast Trump for both the conduct that led to his conviction in May and his behavior during and after the trial...

We feel as certain as we can be that any appeal of the verdict or sentence will be denied.  

The MF has been given a golden "get- out- of- jail card" by the 77 million people who returned him to an office he never should have held in the first place.  But as the article notes, the ignominy of being a convicted felon will sting for the rest of his worthless life.  For now,  he'll try to distract the media with more asinine bombast and comfort himself at his Florida millionaire boys club with his adoring cult members.  But make no mistake, this one hurts.

(Photo: the MF at his hush money trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024, in New York City / Justin Lane, pool, Getty Images)