In an unusual twist, a judge chose the president on Friday. Donald TrumpHis punishment Stealth money Case for Jan. 10 — a week before he returns to the White House — but indicated he would not be sent to prison.

The development, however, leaves Trump the first president to take office convicted of a felony.

Judge Joan M. Murchin, who presided over Trump’s trial, indicated in a written ruling that she would grant the former and future president a sentence known as a conditional discharge, in which a defendant avoids re-arrest. is excluded.

Murchin resisted pressure to overrule Trump’s decision and dismiss the case based on presidential immunity and because after his return The White House. The judge said he found “no legal impediment” to sentencing Trump and that it was “obligatory” for him to be sentenced before he is sworn in on January 20.

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“Only by finalizing this matter” would the interests of justice be served, Murchan wrote.

Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records. They included an alleged scheme to cover up payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of Trump’s first campaign in 2016. The payment was made to prevent her from publicizing claims that she had sex with the married Trump years ago. He says her story is false and she did nothing wrong.

After Trump’s Nov. 5 election, Murchan halted the proceedings and postponed sentencing indefinitely so the defense and prosecution could consider the future of the case.

Trump’s lawyers urged Murchan to toss it. He said it would otherwise lead to an unconstitutional “obstruction” of the incoming president’s ability to run the country.

Prosecutors acknowledged that there should be some accommodation for his future presidency, but insisted that the sentence should stand.

They proposed various options, such as freezing the case during its term or guaranteeing him a non-jail sentence. They also proposed closing the case by formally noting both his conviction and his pending appeal — a novel idea some state courts do when criminal defendants appeal their cases. They die.

Trump took office on January 20 as the first former president to be convicted of a felony and the first convicted felon elected to office.

His conviction leaves the 78-year-old facing the possibility of a fine or probation to four years in prison.

The case centered on how Trump reimbursed his personal attorney to pay Daniels.

Attorney Michael Cohen supported the money. He later recouped it through a series of payments that were billed as legal expenses by Trump’s company. Trump, by then in the White House, signed most of the checks himself.

Prosecutors said the designation was intended to cover up the true purpose of the payments and a broader effort to prevent voters from hearing false claims about the Republican during his first campaign.

Trump said Cohen was legitimately paid for legal services, and that the Daniels story was suppressed to avoid embarrassing the Trump family, not to sway voters.

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Trump was a private citizen — campaigning for president, but neither elected nor sworn in — when Cohen paid Daniels in October 2016. He was president when Cohen was paid, and Cohen testified that he discussed payment arrangements in the Oval Office.

Trump, a Republican, called the decision a “rigged, disgraceful” result of a “rigged, shameful” investigation by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat.

Before Trump’s November election, his lawyers sought to overturn his conviction for a different reason: a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in July that gave presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution. The petition was still pending when the election raised new issues.

While urging Murchan to overturn the conviction, Trump also sought to move the case to federal court, where he could also claim immunity. A federal judge repeatedly said no, but Trump appealed.

The hush money case was the only one of Trump’s four criminal charges to go to trial.

Since being elected, special counsel Jack Smith has dropped two of his federal cases. One of them concerns Trump’s efforts to reverse his 2020 election defeat. Another alleged that he stashed classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

A separate, state-level election interference lawsuit in Georgia remains largely on hold.