ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Former President Donald Trump is set to hold a news conference Friday after a New York jury found him guilty Thursday on all charges in his hush money trial.

Jurors convicted him on 34 felony counts tied to a scheme to influence the 2016 election, making him the first former president to become a convicted felon. 

“It’s the first time that an ex-president has gotten into a state criminal trial and been convicted. That is unique in U.S. history,” said UNM Law Professor Josh Katenburg. “It’s the first time in U.S. history where a former president has been convicted of a crime.”

The judge set sentencing for Trump for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention, where he will officially become the party’s presidential nominee. 

He could get probation, house arrest, or face up to four years in prison. Kastenberg thinks he won’t get anywhere near that worst-case scenario.

“He does not have a criminal rap sheet, so he’s a first time offender,” said Kastenberg. “It’s certainly not a violent crime. I could see the court sentencing him to no jail time, but supervised release or things like that, but I could also see very short jail time as well.”

Next, there will be an appeal.

“His attorneys will file an appeal with the trial court under New York criminal procedural code,” Kastenberg said. “Then they’ll appeal to the intermediate level court of appeals in New York. It’s hard to predict how long appeals will go on for, but I could see this going on for a couple of years.”

They can also appeal federally, but there’s also the U.S. Supreme Court. 

“I would say the only reason this case would end up before the U.S. Supreme Court is on a fundamental constitutional question, can a prosecution move forward while someone is running for the office of the presidency?” said Kastenberg.

Kastenberg says another big question mark is if Trump wins the presidency in the November election, how will that impact the other criminal trials he faces?

“There is a constitutional issue, can a state jail a sitting president? Well, if he wins office, my sense is no, they cannot,” Kastenberg said. “Whatever sentence is issued, it’ll have to wait until he leaves the presidency.”

No matter how it plays out, Kastenberg says this verdict has a lot of significance for we the people.

“This is something we should all take a degree of comfort in, that no matter how powerful of an individual you are, if the prosecution does it right, they don’t bring a frivolous case forward,” said Kastenberg. “That jurors will, in good conscience, decide guilt or innocence as though it were any other person. That’s importantly symbolic because most Americans will believe there are two systems of justice, one for the rich and one for everybody else.”

Trump faces three other felony indictments, but this case may be the only one to play out before Nov. 5 – the date of the presidential election, which has gotten a lot of focus today. It’s 159 days away.