Dear Justice Merchan:
You are truly confronted with an unprecedented situation when it concerns sentencing Donald Trump for his 34 felony convictions. Not since Al Capone has the nation been confronted with such a celebrated criminal. But the Mob did not stop his prosecution for tax evasion, lthough it was obvious that Capone was guilty of much more. Donald Trump is unique in American history. A popular demagogue, he has won re-election to the nation's highest public office. At the same time he manipulated an often reluctant criminal process to shield him from accountability for his crimes including attempting to subvert a fair election and the peaceful transfer of power, a process that has occurred in this country for over two hundred years.
You have a duty to the nation and the rule of law to impose sentence on a defendant convicted by a jury of his peers. At the same time you may harbor legitimate deference to a President-elect as part of our Constitutional order of separate powers of government. The Justice Department has moved dismiss both federal criminal prosecutions against him because of its policy to not prosecute a sitting President.
May I suggest that you impose sentence before he takes office on January 20 to make it clear to the nation that no person is above the law. You have the power to suspend that sentence pending his inevitable appeals to higher courts. That suspension could be long enough to put it beyond his term in office. Of course his attorneys will argue that he would be placed under a "cloud" impeding his due administration of the law if he were to take office after such sentencing. But that cloud would be of his own criminal behavior. The national interest outweighs any personal considerations he may be given because of his status.
Respectfully submitted,
U.S. Person