The real reason Donald Trump could end up with a prison sentence from Judge Merchan
I’ve said that I’m hesitant to predict whether Donald Trump will be given a prison sentence in New York. These are the lowest level of felonies, but there are dozens of counts. Only about ten percent of people who are convicted on this particular kind of felony are sent to prison, but Trump’s guilt is more egregious than most. Trump has no existing criminal record, but he’ll also show no contrition. I could see it going either way.
But the good folks at Courthouse News have spoken with a defense attorney who is quite familiar with Judge Juan Merchan’s decisions. It turns out Donald Trump has something very specific to worry about. Merchan tends to give out harsher sentences for white collar criminal convictions than a lot of other judges do.
Judge Merchan has shown himself to be a fair, unbiased, level headed judge. He’s not going to give Trump a harsher sentence just because he’s Trump. Nor is he going to give Trump a more lenient sentence just because he’s Trump. But now we know that he might give Trump a harsher sentence because he’s a white collar criminal.
So if you’re placing bets on whether Merchan will end up sending Donald Trump to prison, you can now add one more checkmark in the “yes” column. We’ll see what happens soon enough. The next thing to wait for will be DA Alvin Bragg’s sentencing recommendation, which will surface well before the July sentencing hearing. We’ll see if Bragg requests prison (likely), and then we’ll see what Merchan does with it.
