Trump’s Stormy Daniels hush money trial to start April 15: Will he go to jail if he loses?

New York Judge Juan Merchan has set a date for Donald Trump’s hush money trial after a delay. The first-ever criminal trial against a US president will begin on April 15 with jury selection.

The proceedings were initially scheduled to start on March 25 but were postponed due to a last-minute influx of records from federal prosecutors. The trial is expected to last around one and a half months.

The case, put together by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, relates to the misuse of campaign funds to make a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels for her silence on a supposed sexual encounter between her and the former president.

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Trump’s Stormy Daniels hush money trial to start April 15: Will he go to jail if he loses?

As this is a criminal case, punishment may involve both jail time and monetary damages.

Trump has been indicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Under New York law, this qualifies as a class E felony which carries a maximum of four years in prison for each count, if convicted. Multiply this by 34, and you get a possible maximum 136-year prison sentence.

Despite this daunting prospect, legal experts say it is not very likely that the Republican candidate for the presidential election will spend much time in jail, even if he were convicted on all counts.

According to New York State law, courts may impose shorter sentences for first-time offenders, depending on the circumstances of the crime and the defendant’s history and character.

A more likely scenario would be that the court would ask the ex-president to pay fines.

Trump has consistently denied he did anything illegal, and claims that the charges against him are a product of political persecution.