US President-elect Donald Trump, who has become the first felon in the White House, was on Friday sentenced to an ‘unconditional discharge’ as a US court upheld his conviction in the hush money case that involves covering up unaccounted payments to former porn star Stormy Daniels.
The case is related to the $130,000 paid to the adult film star in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election so that she remains quiet about their alleged affair.
What is unconditional discharge?
An unconditional discharge is a rare and lenient sentence in the New York state courts, which carries no jail time, probation or fines.
As per the law in New York, this can be imposed “if the court is of the opinion that no proper purpose would be served by imposing any condition upon the defendant’s release.”
New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, while delivering the sentence, said, “This court has determined that the only lawful sentence that permits entry of a judgement of conviction without encroaching on the highest office of the land, is an unconditional discharge”.
It must be noted that Donald Trump was not even present in person during the session of court and rather chose to appear virtually, knowing that he will not be sent to jail.
Noting that the “citizenry of this nation” voted to send Donald Trump back to the White House, Justice Merchan said that anything more punitive than an unconditional discharge will interfere with the broad protections that he will be receiving once he is inaugurated as the US President on January 20.
The judge further stated that “never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances.”
According to The New York Times, a conditional discharge would have required Donald Trump to meet certain conditions, such as paying restitution or maintaining employment. However, he will not be subject to any of these requirements going forward.
The report added that Justice Merchan, in a 18-page decision last week, said that he was planning to give Mr Trump an unconditional discharge, stating that it “appears to be the most viable solution to ensure finality.”
Donald Trump, who was earlier convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to cover up the scandal, would have faced probation or up to four years in prison if he was not elected in the November 5 presidential polls last year.
