Trump sentencing: What is unconditional discharge? Explained

New York Judge Juan M. Merchan sentenced President-elect Donald Trump Friday, Jan. 10, to “unconditional discharge” for Trump’s conviction in the Stormy Daniels hush money case. While “unconditional discharge” sounds like an issue a urologist might diagnose a man Trump’s age with, it’s real legal terminology.

In this article, we’ll explain what unconditional discharge means in a legal context, and the ignoble distinction it adds to Trump’s second term, with a refresher on the Stormy Daniels hush money verdict, and what led to Trump’s conviction in the first place.

What is unconditional discharge?

According to New York state law, “unconditional discharge” imposes no prison time, fine, or probationary period for the conviction, though the conviction still stands. The New York legal code reads, “When the court imposes a sentence of unconditional discharge, the defendant shall be released with respect to the conviction for which the sentence is imposed without imprisonment, fine or probation supervision. A sentence of unconditional discharge is for all purposes a final judgment of conviction.”

According to MSNBC News legal reporting, Trump was convicted of an “E” level felony in New York, the least severe kind. Examples include lawyers who fail to pay taxes or plead guilty to official misconduct, marijuana-related convictions, and other relatively low-level crimes, all of which receive unconditional discharge sentencing.

Judge Merchan’s decision, which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office announced it didn’t “oppose,” means Trump has still been convicted, but he will essentially face no punishment for the crimes.

Merchan likely chose unconditional discharge based on legal precedent, and to avoid legal and Constitutional arguments over whether Trump could be convicted and sentenced at all based on previous Justice Department rulings on presidential indictments, and recent Supreme Court rulings on presidential immunity with Trump headed back to the White House.

What was Trump’s hush money case verdict?

Trump was convicted in May 2023 on 34 counts related to paying former adult film actress Stormy Daniels hush money before the 2016 election to conceal Trump and Daniels’ affair years earlier, which, according to the verdict, illegally influenced the election. Trump was also found guilty in New York state of falsifying business records to cover up the money spent.

When the verdict was announced, Trump said in court, “This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5” — election day — “by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.”

Trump appeared virtually from Florida in a New York court Friday to hear Merchan’s unconditional discharge decision. “Never before has this court been presented with such a unique and remarkable set of circumstances,” Merchan said, clarifying he would sentence Trump to unconditional discharge on all 34 counts related to the case.

After the verdict was read, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “THERE IS NO CASE, THERE WAS NEVER A CASE, and this whole Scam fully deserves to be DISMISSED. The real Jury, the American People, have spoken, by Re-Electing me with an overwhelming MANDATE in one of the most consequential Elections in History.”

The case, Trump added, “had no crime, no damages, no proof, no facts, no Law, only a highly conflicted Judge, a star witness who is a disbarred, disgraced, serial perjurer, and criminal Election Interference.”

Trump went on to call his sentencing, “a despicable charade, and now that it is over, we will appeal this Hoax, which has no merit, and restore the trust of Americans in our once great System of Justice. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Regardless of what Trump has to say about Merchan’s ruling, with his second term, Trump will still be the first-ever convicted felon in the White House.