A New York judge on Monday denied US President-elect Donald Trump’s request to postpone a sentencing hearing in his New York criminal case, which is scheduled for Friday—just 10 days before his inauguration, NBC News reported.
Trump's legal team filed a motion earlier in the day Monday asking Judge Juan Merchan to “vacate the sentencing hearing scheduled for January 10, 2025, and suspend all further deadlines in the case until President Trump’s immunity appeals are fully and finally resolved.” However, Merchan rejected the request.
“This Court has considered Defendant’s arguments in support of his motion and finds that they are for the most part, a repetition of the arguments he has raised numerous times in the past,” Merchan stated in his ruling, according to NBC News.
Last week, Merchan denied Trump’s request to dismiss the case and set the sentencing date for this week.
Trump’s lawyers indicated in their filing that they plan to appeal Merchan's recent rulings to the state Appellate Division. The appeal, filed late Monday, requests a hearing on January 27, a week after Trump’s inauguration. They argued that Trump is entitled to an “automatic stay” of the sentencing.
Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records tied to an alleged scheme to conceal a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the final weeks of his 2016 campaign.
Initially, Trump’s sentencing was scheduled for July 11 but was postponed twice at his defense’s request. Following Trump’s victory in the November 5 election, the judge delayed the sentencing once more to allow both sides to address the implications of Trump’s presidency on the case.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for Trump, criticized Monday’s decision as “unlawful,” stating, “The Supreme Court’s historic decision on Immunity, the state constitution of New York, and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office opposed the request to delay, emphasizing that Trump had repeatedly sought to postpone the sentencing.
“The current schedule is entirely a function of defendant’s repeated requests to adjourn a sentencing date... he should not now be heard to complain of harm from delays he caused,” the DA’s office wrote.
Prosecutors also argued that now is “the least burdensome time” to sentence Trump, pointing out that he has no viable claim of presidential immunity at this stage and is not yet performing official presidential duties. They added that the sentencing could be completed in less than an hour.
Merchan has indicated he does not plan to impose jail time and is likely to issue an unconditional discharge, which would leave Trump a convicted felon but without additional punishment.
This case is the only one of Trump’s four criminal indictments to go to trial.
Special counsel Jack Smith has dismissed two federal cases against Trump: one concerning his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and another alleging he mishandled classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.
