Many defendants are jailed immediately as they await formal sentencing but experts say that is unlikely to happen to the former president.
Many are questioning what will happen to Donald Trump if the jury in the hush money trial finds the former president guilty. Oftentimes defendants are jailed immediately as they await formal sentencing, but experts say that is unlikely to happen to Trump.
“He will not be put in handcuffs. He will not be led into a cell. He will be released on his own recognizance and he will be instructed to return to court in approximately six weeks for sentencing,” retired New York Supreme Court judge Diane Kiesel says.
Famed defense attorney Mark Geragos says that if Trump’s trial were held in California instead of New York, Trump would be more likely to be placed in handcuffs.
“It is standard operating procedure for a state court judge to remand a defendant into custody, into jail, when the verdict is read and it’s guilty,” Geragos tells Inside Edition.
Any prison sentence would present the Secret Service with a security challenge as all former presidents are entitled to constant protection.
“There's no play book for this. So the Secret Service, it's my understanding, has been in conversations with the various law enforcement entities involved in this process. There's a lot of discussion, a lot of negotiation and a lot of problem solving going on,” Retired Secret Service agent Bobby McDonald tells Inside Edition.
New York City’s Riker’s Island is one of the most notorious jails in the United States.
“Donald Trump is in a different posture from any other criminal defendant we've ever seen and I don't know what Judge Merchan's think is about what kind of message if any he wants to send with this sentence,” Kiesel says.
According to the Washington Post, the Secret Service could prove to be an obstacle to imprisonment and may insist on home confinement if Trump is convicted.
