Although former President Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of falsification of business records in the first degree—which is a felony in New York—on Thursday, May 27, Fordham Law Professor Cheryl Bader told ABC News that the case is not yet over.
Before he can file an appeal of the conviction, he needs to be sentenced by Judge Juan Merchan, according to Fordham University Law Professor Cheryl Bader.
“The case is not considered complete until after sentencing. After sentencing, I’m sure his team will file a notice of appeal and then a briefing schedule will be set,” Bader told ABC News.
“I’m sure he’ll be looking to appeal on a whole host of different issues that came up during trial from the jury selection to various evidentiary rulings,” Bader said.
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Some experts told ABC News it is highly unlikely Trump will be sentenced to prison time.
“I would be surprised if we see a sentence of incarceration,” Bader said. “He has no criminal record, it’s a nonviolent crime. He’s of a significant age where people tend to age out of criminal conduct, and the logistical issues are large here.”
“If he were sentenced to a term under a year, normally, he would be sent to Rikers Island, but that’s not going to work in this case — and so there are logistical issues of where to house him — and a lot of political implications of incarcerating the Republican nominee, just prior to the election,” Bader said.
Bader also pointed to Merchan not sending Trump to jail over his violations of the gag order issued against him in the case.
“I’d be very surprised if we see a sentence of incarceration, and I think Judge Merchan has tipped his hand a little bit in telling former President Trump that he doesn’t want to send him to jail,” Bader said.
Bader said other sentencing options include community service or fines, but those could be logistically difficult or fail to serve the goal of punishment in this case.
“If we weren’t living in Trump world, the punishment would be the conviction itself. Most people that have run for president in the past would consider 34 felony convictions to be a death knell for their prospects,” Bader said.
Read “Now that Donald Trump has been convicted, what happens next?” on ABC News.
