Judge orders Trump to be sentenced in hush money case on Jan. 10, but says he won’t be incarcerated

The judge presiding over the hush money case against President-elect Donald Trump on Friday denied his bid to dismiss the case and said he’ll sentence him on Jan. 10, ten days before his inauguration as the 47th president.

Judge Juan Merchan said Trump can appear in person or virtually for the sentencing, and that he won’t order Trump jailed.

“While this Court as a matter of law must not make any determination on sentencing prior to giving the parties and Defendants opportunity to be heard, it seems proper at this juncture to make known the Court’s inclination to not impose any sentence of incarceration, a sentence authorized by the conviction but one the People concede they no longer view as a practicable recommendation,” the judge wrote in his ruling.

He was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the case back in May.