- Trump’s lawyers request conviction reversal
- Supreme Court ruling may impact the case
- Sentencing delay urged by Trump’s legal team
On Monday, Donald Trump’s lawyers urged the New York judge who presided over his hush-money trial to overturn his conviction and postpone his sentencing, which was slated for later this month.
The letter to Judge Juan M Merchan noted the US Supreme Court’s order earlier Monday. It urged the judge to postpone the former president’s sentencing while considering the high court’s decision and how it may affect the New York case, according to the letter obtained by the Associated Press.
According to the letter, the lawyers contend that the Supreme Court’s decision validated the defence’s stance: prosecutors should have been barred from bringing material they claimed constituted official presidential acts.
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In previous court papers, Trump claimed immunity from prosecution for activity suspected of governmental activities during his office. His lawyers did not utilise that as a defence in the hush-money case. Still, they did contend that some evidence, such as Trump’s social media remarks against his lawyer, Michael Cohen, stems from his tenure as president and should have been excluded from the trial due to immunity.
The Supreme Court declared on Monday for the first time that past presidents have extensive immunity from prosecution, delaying the Washington criminal case against Trump on allegations of plotting to reverse his 2020 presidential election defeat.
Trump was convicted in New York on 34 charges of falsifying business documents, which prosecutors claimed was an attempt to conceal a hush-money payment right before the 2016 presidential election.
Merchan implemented a protocol in the lead-up to the trial requiring both sides to write him a one-page letter summarising their points before filing longer court documents. He said he did this to manage the docket better and avoid being bombarded with documents.
