Ex-US President Donald Trump Has Been Booked And Charged. What happens now?

Prosecutors have stated their intention to request a trial date in January 2024, while Trump's legal team has suggested a spring 2024 trial.

Former US President Donald Trump

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New Delhi: Although the events that led to the criminal case against Donald Trump, involving hush money payments to silence stories of extramarital affairs, occurred almost seven years ago, a trial may still be over a year away. This means that the former U.S. President could potentially face a Manhattan courtroom jury as he seeks a return to the White House or even after the November 2024 election, as reported by news agency Reuters.

After Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records on Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan set the next court hearing for Dec. 4.

Prosecutors have stated their intention to request a trial date in January 2024, while Trump's legal team has suggested a spring 2024 trial.

What happens to Trump now? 

Reuters reported that in the first three quarters of 2022, the average criminal case in Manhattan took more than 900 days to move from indictment to a trial verdict, according to data from the state's division of criminal justice services.

Trump's case is not a typical one, and his legal team has stated that they plan to aggressively fight it with an abundance of legal documents. That could conceivably push any trial past the timetable floated by the two sides and closer to the presidential election.

The Republican nomination for the presidency is set to take place in various states during the first half of 2024, with the party formally selecting a nominee in mid-2024 to run against the Democratic nominee, likely to be incumbent President Joe Biden.

If Trump were to be elected, he would not be able to pardon himself of state charges.

But putting a president-elect or president on trial for state charges would enter uncharted legal waters.

"This is so unprecedented that it's hard for me to say," said Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former Manhattan prosecutor. "I think it's tricky."

Aside from the New York case, Trump faces federal criminal investigations over allegations he tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling of classified documents. He also faces a Georgia investigation into his attempts to fight his 2020 defeat in that state.

Challenging The Case

Trump has accused Alvin Bragg, the elected Democratic Manhattan District Attorney, of targeting him for political gain and may attempt to have the charges dismissed on those grounds. He has also complained that Judge Merchan, who presided over a criminal tax-fraud trial involving Trump's company last year, treated him unfairly.

On Tuesday, Trump called for the case to be moved from Manhattan, a heavily Democratic area, to Staten Island, a more conservative part of New York City.

Trump's lawyers would have to file a motion showing why Merchan is unqualified to handle the case. That would likely be denied as there is no basis for recusal, said Marc Scholl, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney.

Likewise, any request to change the venue would likely be denied this far in advance of a trial, Scholl said.

Trump will likely pursue other avenues as well, some of which could present thorny legal issues that take time to resolve.

According to Reuters, falsifying business records is typically a misdemeanor punishable by no more than one year in prison under New York state law. Bragg elevated those charges to felonies, each carrying a maximum of four years in prison, by arguing that Trump falsified those records to cover up campaign-finance violations.

Using state election law in that manner - and in a case involving a federal, not a state, candidate - is an untested legal theory, legal experts said, and Trump's lawyers would be sure to challenge it.

Trump could also challenge whether the statute of limitations - five years in this instance - should have run out. That deadline has been extended due to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under New York law, the statute of limitations can also be extended if the defendant has been out of state, but Trump may argue that serving as U.S. president should not apply.