When will Trump be convicted? : Local experts weigh in on the implications of the convictions

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump's convictions on 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York state court have raised questions about what impact it will have on the upcoming election presidential election, as well as what his sentencing on July 11 could look like.

Candidates with felony convictions can still run for president, something Socialist Party candidate Eugene Debs did in 1920 when he ran while in prison.

Local experts do not believe Trump will receive any prison time for his convictions, which centered on quietly paying money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges the two men had sex in 2006.

“For someone with no criminal history and a non-violent offense like this, the sentence generally does not include any prison time,” said Michael Dimino, a law professor at Widener Commonwealth. “It might be probation, or some sort of restriction on his freedom and movement in the future.”

Dimino says the planned appeals process could continue next year, when Trump could potentially become commander in chief again.

“Formally, the defense will have 30 days from the judgment of conviction to file a notice of appeal,” explained Dimino. “But it doesn't really matter when the process starts. The question is: When might it end?”

What the verdicts mean for Trump's standing with voters leading into the election remains to be seen.

“I think for those who unquestioningly support President Trump, this is not going to change that,” said Dr. Alison Dagnes, chair of the political science department at Shippensburg University. “That said, I am also convinced that the American public has confidence in our judicial institutions, to the point that if the decision were as radical as this decision was, they would say that there was actually something to it, and that the guilty verdict was deserved.

No major party presidential candidate has ever been convicted of a crime before, a hurdle Trump will have to clear, according to Dagnes, as he is expected to become the Republican nominee for the third election in a row.

“The fact that it was a unanimous verdict on all counts makes it much more difficult to attempt to undermine this judicial decision,” Dagnes said.

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