- A jury found Donald Trump guilty of all 34 counts in the secret New York trial.
- The judge set Trump’s sentencing hearing for July 11.
- But it could take months, or even more than a year, before Trump faces any consequences, according to a legal expert.
A Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts in the secret criminal trial relating to a clandestine payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
What happens next? Delays, delays, delays.
Justice Juan Merchan of the New York Supreme Court set Trump’s sentencing hearing for July 11 at 11 a.m. ET.
At that hearing, Trump could be sentenced to up to four years in prison on each count.
But don’t expect Trump to face any of these consequences before the election.
It will likely be months, if not more than a year, before the former president needs to respond, Alex Reinert, a criminal and constitutional law expert at the Cardozo School of Law, told Business Insider.
“I think we can expect months, a year, maybe more than a year of potential delays,” Reinert said. “It’s difficult to predict at first, but it’s going to take time.”
The main reason for the delays is that Trump’s defense team is expected to appeal the jury’s decision. And there are a number of reasons they may seek to challenge the verdict, Reinert said.
Attorneys may raise issues with Judge Merchan’s jury instructions, evidentiary issues, or even challenge whether the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office attempted to use New York State law to prosecute a federal campaign violation, Reinert said.
“I don’t know if any of these arguments will ultimately have merit, but I think they’re all potential,” he said.
With an appeal, which could come after Trump’s conviction, Reinert said it was almost certain that any sentence would be stayed pending appeal, meaning Trump won’t have to deal with consequences until until the appeal is resolved.
Reinert added that there are many people who are in jail today awaiting the status of their appeals, but that this is very unlikely given the nature of the crime and the identity of the accused: a former sitting president.
“I would be shocked if that happened here,” Reinert said. “Shocked by the identity of the accused, and I think there is a tendency to treat crimes like this differently than violent crimes.”
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