Adam Shlahet, director of the Brendan Moore Trial Advocacy Center, spoke with Salon to discuss former President Trump’s sentencing hearing scheduled for July 11.
“When I first started thinking about this case, I thought that the judge sentencing him to incarceration was very unlikely,” said Adam Shlahet, director of the Brendan Moore Trial Advocacy Center at Fordham Law. “I’m thinking it’s more likely now.”
Still, Shlahet said Trump’s put himself in an uncommonly vulnerable position ahead of sentencing because he hasn’t expressed remorse and because Judge Juan Merchan found him in contempt of court 10 times for violating a gag order.
“He can take into account all of his civil fraud, can take into account all of his contempt, and so even though this is a guy with no record and he’s an older gentleman, there are a ton of factors, aggravating factors that would lead a judge to give him some jail time,” Shlahet said.
Shlahet also pointed to Trump’s conduct toward the judge.
“When the person who’s going to be deciding your sentence is the judge, it’s also a really good idea to not antagonize the judge at every opportunity,” Shlahet said. “Every time he gets a microphone, he insults the judge and calls the judge crooked and calls the judge conflicted and shows no respect for the jury’s verdict. And that is not the way a defendant who wants probation should be acting.”
Ahead of the July 11 sentencing, Trump is expected to meet with the probation office, according to Shlahet.
“Either a probation officer or a social worker, someone who works for probation, and they’re going to interview him and then make a sentencing recommendation,” he said. “Normally, this is to get kind of some vital information about the defendant: what their history is, what their criminal history is, what their community ties are, are they working, all that kind of stuff.”
Shlahet said he’s interested in one question Trump will face: about his case, and whether he accepts responsibility.
“That’s a really big thing that the judge looks at,” he said.
Shlahet said that “a lot of the restrictions that are placed on people with a felony conviction are just not going to apply to him.”
“He’s going to get waivers to any country he wants to visit if he’s the president of the United States,” he said. “If he loses the election, then I think these collateral consequences may become inconvenient.”
