Shortly before the presidential election, Donald Trump continues to struggle with legal problems. A report now shows how often prison sentences were imposed in similar cases.
The criminal trial surrounding former President Donald Trump is once again causing a stir ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in the USA. A jury found the 78-year-old guilty in May of 34 counts of falsifying business documents. The New York Times has now examined how often people convicted of similar crimes ended up in prison. The results show that about 42 percent of defendants in New York end up in prison.
With a prison sentence looming, the election could decide not only Trump’s political career, but also his personal freedom. Trump’s sentence will be announced on November 26th. Various consequences are conceivable, from a prison sentence to probation and community service to a fine.
Trump’s defense will reportedly try to use mitigating arguments to avoid prison time, such as Trump being a first-time offender or citing his advanced age. However, if Trump wins the presidential election, the imposition of the sentence could be postponed indefinitely.
In the past decade, 204 people in New York were imprisoned for falsifying business documents, while 174 received probation. First-time offenders were often sentenced to prison terms ranging from one day to 364 days, with six months being the most common. The upcoming verdict on Donald Trump could have historic significance. It would be the first time in US history that a former president had to go to prison.
In the trial, prosecutors accused Donald Trump of improving his chances in the 2016 presidential election by making a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels and then incorrectly accounting for the transaction. Although the payment itself was not illegal, the now 78-year-old is said to have falsified documents when refunding the amount to his then-lawyer Michael Cohen in order to conceal the true purpose of the payment. Trump was found guilty on 34 counts.
Now Trump’s sentence is at the discretion of the judge. Juan Merchan is known as a lawyer who takes a clear line, doesn’t put up with anything and takes action against white-collar crime. In the past, he has already sentenced one of Trump’s financial advisors to prison. Merchan, who was born in Bogotá, Colombia, came to the USA as a child and grew up – like Donald Trump – in the New York borough of Queens.