United States President-elect Donald Trump‘s request to postpone his sentencing for his criminal conviction last year regarding hush-money payments to an adult film actress has been denied by New York’s highest court.
On Thursday, a New York Court of Appeals judge issued a terse order that denied Trump’s legal team a hearing.
That leaves the US Supreme Court as the president-elect’s final recourse to avert a sentencing hearing scheduled for Friday, just 10 days before Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
In late May, the Republican, who previously held the office of president from 2017 to 2021, was convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business documents in connection with hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film performer.
The payments, which were made in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, were alleged by prosecutors to be intended to conceal allegations of a sexual relationship with Daniels that could have been politically detrimental. Trump ultimately won that campaign.
However, he denied the existence of any such relationship and entered a not-guilty plea. In May, he became the first president of the United States to be convicted of a crime.
He has maintained his denial of any misconduct and maintains that he is the victim of a political “witch hunt.”
Earlier this week, Trump’s attorneys requested that the Supreme Court immediately stay the sentencing to “prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the Presidency and the operations of the federal government.”
They have contended that some evidence should not have been presented in the case due to a Supreme Court ruling last year that granted presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution.
Additionally, the attorneys have advocated for the annulment of Trump’s conviction.
Judge Set to Decide: Trump Will Get Unconditional Discharge, No Imprisonment
Manhattan prosecutors opposed Trump’s request to stay in a filing to the Supreme Court on Thursday morning.
The defendant requests this court to intervene in an ongoing state criminal trial to prevent the scheduled sentencing before the trial court issues a final judgment and any direct appeal of the defendant’s conviction. However, the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has argued that there is no reason for such intervention.
Justice Juan Merchan, the trial judge in the case, stated last week that he was not inclined to sentence the president-elect to incarceration and would likely grant him unconditional discharge.
This would result in a guilty verdict being recorded against Trump, but it would not result in custody, a fine, or probation.
