What is unconditional discharge and why it was applied to Trump
NEW YORK (PIX11) – President-elect Donald Trump was sentenced to an unconditional discharge in his New York hush money case on Friday morning. So what exactly is that?
Unconditional discharge is when a defendant is convicted without punishments such as imprisonment, a fine, or probation supervision, according to CaseText by Thomson Reuters. For all purposes, an unconditional discharge is a final judgment of conviction.
A court may give an unconditional discharge sentence if they decide that no purpose would be served by imposing conditions on the defendant's release.
Judge Juan M. Merchan previously indicated plans for unconditional discharge partly to avoid constitutional issues that could arise if the penalty overlapped with Trump’s presidency.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel previously found that sitting presidents cannot be indicted. Two Justice Department reports, one in 1973 and one in 2000, came to the same conclusion.
Trump’s sentence of an unconditional discharge caps a norm-smashing case that saw the former and future president charged with 34 felonies, put on trial for almost two months and convicted by a jury on every count. Yet, the legal detour — and sordid details aired in court of a plot to bury affair allegations — didn’t hurt him with voters, who elected him to a second term.
This story includes reporting from the Associated Press.
Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here.