NEW YORK – Every day, hundreds of people are taken into police custody in New York. This time, former President Donald Trump is expected to become one of them next week.

Trump was indicted by a Manhattan jury on Thursday, prosecutors and defense attorneys said the same day. The decision follows an investigation into alleged payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign to silence allegations of extramarital sex. The indictment itself remains sealed for now in what is the first criminal case brought against a former US president.

Trump, a Republican who called the case Thursday a “political prosecution” of a “totally innocent person” by a Democratic prosecutor, is expected to surrender to authorities next week, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person said the details of her delivery were still being worked out.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office said it contacted Trump’s attorney to arrange his surrender and arraignment.

Political analyst Carlos Vargas claimed that this accusation will unite the bases of the Republican Party for the next elections.

What happens once you are charged in New York?

For any defendant in New York, facing criminal charges means being fingerprinted and photographed, answering basic questions like name and date of birth, and being prosecuted. In total, the defendants are often detained for at least several hours.

There may be differences as to where the different stages occur, how long they take, whether the person is handcuffed, and other details. It all depends on the seriousness of the case and the ability of the defendants to surrender. (See here Will former President Trump be arrested after being indicted by a jury in Manhattan?)

But there is no manual for signing a former president with US Secret Service protection. Agents are tasked with protecting former presidents unless and until they say they don’t need them. Trump kept his contact information, so officers must be with him at all times.

“That would be a unique outlier,” said defense attorney and former Manhattan prosecutor Jeremy Saland.

If Trump surrenders, expect a carefully choreographed and relatively quick process and release without bail (as is common in New York), with an emphasis on safety. A former president is unlikely to parade in handcuffs on a sidewalk or in a crowded courtroom aisle, predicts Saland.

“It’s a public forum, but security is also paramount,” he says.

If the defendants are informed of an impending charge or arrest, they often arrange to surrender. This can make the process easier and strengthen the case for bail by showing that you are not ducking the case.

Criminal lawyer Ray Colón expects the former president to face justice in the coming weeks.

Other similar cases

For example, when former Trump corporate finance chief Allen Weisselberg was indicted in Manhattan for tax evasion in 2021, he was able to get to a side door of the courthouse before regular business hours.

The goal was to “reduce the likelihood that the rendition would turn into a media frenzy,” his lawyers wrote in a subsequent court filing.

Weisselberg arrived around 6:15 a.m. and was taken to what his lawyers described as a “waiting room” for the booking, a possible release interview and other procedures. To pass the time, he had brought a book, “Chicken soup for the soul of the baseball fan” and his lawyers provided him with a snack, a face mask, mints and other items, according to the filing.

Weisselberg was arrested and released about eight hours later, after being ushered into the courtroom in front of a phalanx of news cameras in the hallway. (Weisselberg eventually pleaded guilty to tax evasion on employee benefits, including a free apartment and tuition for his grandchildren.)

Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, meanwhile, surrendered to a Manhattan police station in 2018 to face rape and criminal sex act charges. He was briefly in a cell at the police station, leafing through a biography of famed director Elia Kazan, before being led away in handcuffs and taken to court as reporters on the sidewalk looked on and other suspects in a search area. of the courtyard, where some were shouting. , “Hey, Harvey!”

About three hours after his surrender, Weinstein was arrested and released on electronic monitoring and $1 million bond. (Weinstein was eventually convicted; his appeal is now in New York Supreme Court. He was also convicted on similar charges in Los Angeles.)

But even a planned arrest is still an arrest. Defendants must hand over cellphones and certain other personal items (and, in some cases, potential evidence) to safekeeping, and attorneys are generally not allowed to accompany their clients through the process. Lawyers often advise to travel light and keep quiet.

“Don’t make statements. Because you think you’re helping your situation, but they can use your statements against you, because you’re caught in the moment, you get nervous,” says Gianni Karmily, a defense attorney who practices in New York and Long Island.

Many arrests in New York are unplanned. It can be a very different experience for even the most important defendants.

When a hotel housekeeper accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn, then head of the International Monetary Fund and potential French presidential candidate, of sexually assaulting her in 2011, he was dragged off a plane at the airport Kennedy.

Strauss-Kahn, who said his meeting with the woman was consensual, spent some 36 hours being questioned, arrested, subjected to various tests and waiting in locations including a courthouse before being arraigned and imprisoned without bail. After several days in the infamous Rikers Island prison, Strauss-Kahn was released on $1 million bail, under house arrest with armed guards.

Manhattan prosecutors eventually dropped the criminal case against Strauss-Kahn, who then settled a civil lawsuit filed by his accuser.

Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak in New York and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.

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