Judge’s early sentence reveal raises fairness concerns

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In a recent appearance on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” renowned Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz expressed strong criticism regarding New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan’s actions in the Trump criminal case involving record-keeping.

Dershowitz took issue with Judge Merchan’s unusual pre-announcement that the incoming president would not face jail time in his January 10 sentencing. According to Dershowitz, this unprecedented move appeared to be a calculated strategy aimed at influencing Supreme Court justices’ decision-making process.

ALAN DERSHOWITZ:

"He will appeal to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court will take the case. Once the case is taken on the merits, I think it will be reversed."

"I'll never call Donald Trump a convicted felon. He is a convicted innocent man. A convictively framed-up man." pic.twitter.com/7581fIDU00

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) January 10, 2025

“What we saw today was a scam, a ploy,” he said. “It started with Judge Merchan telling in advance what a sentence was going to be. I’ve been doing this for years. I’ve never been told by a judge what the sentence is going to be. When I go into the courtroom with my client, I tell him to bring his toothbrush because he doesn’t know whether he’s going home or going to Rikers or some other lockup. The only reason Merchan said in advance what he was going to do is to try to persuade the two justices of the Supreme Court not to take the case now and they use that fact.”

"[Donald Trump] is not a convicted felon. Let's be clear about that. You can't be a convicted felon if there's no crime, and there is no crime here."

— Alan Dershowitz@AlanDersh @EmmaRechenberg @ShaunKraisman pic.twitter.com/bmmuwfMfrs

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) January 10, 2025

The legal expert further elaborated on his concerns about the judge’s strategy and its implications for the justice system. He argued that the justices’ decision not to intervene was directly influenced by Merchan’s advance announcement regarding the sentence.

“And they said the reason we’re not taking the case now and stopping the sentencing from going forward was because the judge said in advance that he’s not sentencing him to prison. So this was a ploy and the two justices unfortunately fell for the ploy. This is the worst thing that’s happened to the American criminal justice system since McCarthyism and the civil rights abuses back in the 1950s and the victims of the American people. Trump, yes, it was hard he said very honestly, that it was tough for him, but he prevailed, he won and the American people won because they rejected lawfare. You know, I invented that term lawfare back in the ’60s. I don’t know if I’d be proud or ashamed of it, yeah.”