NEW YORK (WRGB) — It’s a historic guilty verdict – former president Donald Trump is now a convicted felon – found guilty in all 34 counts in his hush money trial on Thursday.
Until this verdict, the U.S. has never had either a former president or presidential candidate convicted of a felony.
As he vies for the presidency once again, what will this conviction mean for the former president and November election?
He’s the presumptive Republican Party nominee for president, but he’s set to be sentenced on July 11th, just four months before Election Day.
“There is a tremendous range of sentences available to this judge,” said Peter Pullano, Managing Partner of Tully Rinckey’s Rochester office.
The judge could sentence Trump to probation or up to 4 years for each count in state prison with a maximum of 20 years.
But legal experts like Pullano say they’d be surprised if he received jail time.
“His age, certainly, it’s not essential to lock him up. The fact that he’s never been convicted before is huge,” Pullano said. “You can add in that these are none violent offenses.”
Trump’s legal team has indicated it would appeal the conviction. But Pullano expects the appeal process to take months or years.
“The appeals attorney has to compile all the information, review it and then put their best arguments forward to the appellate division. That’s never an easy task,” said Pullano.
In the meantime, there’s nothing that bars a convicted felon from running for president.
Recent polls suggest his supporters are unlikely to be deterred by the guilty verdict.
“It’s more of an open question by those [voters] who were not entirely sure,” said Novkov.
“To what extent will they be impacted and we’re looking at less than 15 percent. Will that 15 percent margin make a difference, of course it will,” Cutler added.
After the verdict was read, Trump remarked that voters will have the final say in the case when they vote this November.
However, according to Pullano, voting is a right Trump may not have since he’s a resident of Florida. Under Florida state law, convicted felons can’t vote.
