Prosecutors asked a New York judge to spare Donald Trump prison time for his hush-money conviction in their new filing as they seek to prevent the case being thrown out altogether.
In documents made public on Tuesday, they offer a range of alternatives to imprisoning a president in order to keep his conviction on the books.
They even suggest deploying a mechanism more usually invoked when a defendant dies.
A jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Lawyers for Trump argue the case should now be thrown out so it does not get in the way of his ability to govern once he takes office on Jan. 20.
In response, prosecutors say their concerns relate to the possibility that Trump could be imprisoned.
‘Here, however, because defendant has no prior criminal convictions and was convicted of Class E felonies, this court is not required to impose a sentence of incarceration at all, and could even impose an unconditional discharge.
‘The court could therefore conclude that presidential immunity, while not requiring dismissal, nonetheless would require a non-incarceratory sentence in these circumstances.’
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg offered Judge Juan Merchan a range of options to avoid dropping Donald Trump’s criminal conviction
A jury in May found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels
This sketch shows the moment when the jury foreman delivered guilty verdicts
Another idea would be to close the case but effectively add an asterisk, explaining that Trump was convicted but that he was never sentenced and his appeal went unresolved because of presidential immunity.
‘This remedy would prevent defendant from being burdened during his presidency by an ongoing criminal proceeding,’ prosecutors wrote, without discarding the ‘fact that defendant was indicted and found guilty.’
Trump wants the case to be thrown out altogether.
‘This lawless case should have never been brought, and the Constitution demands that it be immediately dismissed,’ said his spokesman Steven Cheung.
Sentencing was originally set for November. But Judge Juan Merchan halted proceedings in light of Trump’s Nov. 5 election win so that the defense and prosecution lawyers could make submissions about how to proceed.
Merchan has yet to set to a date for the next step.
In the meantime, Trump has seen much of his legal problems evaporate.
Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped his two federal cases, related to government documents recovered from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, after the election.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in all the cases against him.
