Alvin Bragg: How Donald Trump Can Still Pay a Price for His Conviction

Bragg’s third, most innovative
option invokes the “abatement doctrine,” typically applied when a defendant
dies after a jury verdict. In most states (though not New York), the conviction
remains on record even if the defendant dies before the appeals process is
complete. A common practice is to note in the record that the defendant was
convicted and that the presumption of innocence was therefore removed.

Bragg suggests that Merchan could
adopt an analogous approach, recording that Trump was convicted but not
sentenced, with the conviction neither affirmed nor reversed on appeal due to
presidential immunity. Merchan thus could bring the case to closure and ensure
it not distract Trump during his time in office At the same time, however, he
would formalize Trump’s convictions for the legal record.

These options, especially the
third, are likely to infuriate Trump. When Trump filed his motion last week, it
largely went unnoticed that he was seeking, unsurprisingly, a comprehensive
victory: not just a reversal of his convictions but a complete erasure of the
case from the historical record. He argued that just continuing the case
through sentencing would have an unconstitutional impact on the office of the presidency.