Donald Trump has hit another rough patch in his ongoing legal woes as a federal appellate court refused his request to delay his sentencing in his recent criminal conviction.
The Court of Appeals made the decision on Thursday September 12, responding to an appeal from the GOP nominee which sought to further delay his sentencing date in the so-called hush money verdict. The grounds for the decision were that the state judge who has jurisdiction over the case already pushed the date of the sentencing once.
Initially, Judge Juan Merchan had scheduled the sentencing in New York for September 18. However, the state later agreed to move the date to November 26, weeks after the highly anticipated presidential election. Part of this delay was to attempt to ensure there was no backlash or accusations of political bias ahead of Election Day.
The appellate court wrote that the request for “an emergency administrative stay” was “denied” by the three-judge panel “in light of” the previous sentencing delay. Previously, Trump’s legal team had asked the appellate court in New York to step in when a federal judge denied his request to have the case taken up in federal court.
The precedent for this motion looked beyond the state court’s adjournment of the case and focused on the July ruling from the Supreme Court which opened the door to potentially allow Trump a way out of some of his legal battles. The former president’s team argued that the case should not move forward until his attorneys know their full capabilities in litigating their appeal to the conviction.
Over the summer, the nation’s highest court determined that former presidents are immune from prosecution for things they did within the scope of their official powers as the commander-in-chief. This left Special Counsel Jack Smith with the responsibility of filing an updated indictment against Trump which narrowed the amount of evidence that can be presented in court but laid the same charges against him.
At the end of May, the former president was found guilty of 34 felony counts related to business record falsification. The case stemmed from allegations that he paid adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about a decades-old romantic fling ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
