AFP :
It was, by many measures, a trial like New York had definitely seen before — a panel of citizen jurors finding a real estate mogul guilty of business fraud.
But it was anything but ordinary, because when it comes to Donald Trump, the average routinely turns surreal.
His criminal sentencing after a conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records caps a roller coaster of delays and legal proceedings that began when the Republican was a former president, and ended on Friday just 10 days before he retakes the White House.
What once had the potential to be one of the more dramatic sentencings in modern United States history ended with a tone of banality — via video chat, with Trump calling in from Florida, showing his age by leaning into the camera.
Ultimately Trump’s re-election to lead the nation’s highest office spared him potential prison time, leaving him a convicted felon in name only.
He was ever-defiant as dozens of journalists, court staffers, the prosecution and the judge gathered on the drafty 15th floor of Manhattan’s criminal court to hear the 78-year-old, wearing a striped red tie, call the proceedings an “embarrassment to New York,” his hometown.
