Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - "As soon as I heard there was a verdict in such a short period of time, I knew from experience that it had to be a guilty verdict. I didn't know it would be on all counts. But it made sense because it was not
a long time to deliberate."
Penny Wolfgang, who retired as a State Supreme Court Judge in 2016,
told WBEN on Friday that everything about the trial was unusual as Donald Trump is the first U.S. President to be put on trial and the first President to be convicted.
The jury was not sequestered, the legal term for isolating the panel from the outside world.
"That's an issue," said Wolfgang. "I don't know if anyone requested it, but
it is very unusual now to sequester juries. We used to do it all the time in serious cases. But now it's frowned upon. In a case like this, you wonder why the jury was not sequestered because there is so much outside influence.
New York State lifted the sequestration requirement for felony cases in 2001.
When asked about Judge Juan Merchan, Wolfgang said she had an opinion, but didn't want to share it.
"I will tell you that I was thinking the whole time, that I'm glad I'm not the judge because this was a complicated trial. He was in a difficult position." She added, "I actually felt sorry for him."
Wolfgang called sentencing the most difficult part of any trial. "In a regular, ordinary case, which this is not, a person, with no prior record, would not receive jail on a non violent felony such as this. But it is an option."
The judge can consider jail time, a conditional discharge, probation, and home confinement, or a combination thereof when Trump is sentenced on July 11.