The Manhattan judge overseeing President-elect Donald Trump’s trial has agreed to suspend all terms associated with Trump’s felony conviction in the final months before taking office, a closely watched decision that allows Trump to avoid a maximum sentence up to four years in prison.

The judge overseeing the case, Judge Juan Merchan, granted the request, which issues a stay of all terms, including the Nov. 26 sentence, to consider the effect of his election as president.

Prosecutors asked for a break in the proceedings, which they said would allow them to better assess the impact of Trump’s new status as president-elect.

“The People agree that these are unprecedented circumstances,” District Attorney Matthew Colangelo said in a letter to Judge Merchan.

Trump’s lawyers, who filed a motion to dismiss the charges entirely, also supported the stay.

Trump was convicted in May of a Manhattan jury on 34 counts of falsifying business records stemming from a case involving payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels.

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Former President Donald Trump, left, speaks late in the day with his attorney Todd Blanche during his trial in Manhattan. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool via USA TODAY NETWORK)

Merchan agreed earlier this year to a four-month delay in court proceedings, pushing the next steps until after the 2024 presidential election.

He had set November 12th as a self-imposed deadline to decide how best to proceed.

The decision comes later said the Supreme Court in a July 1 ruling that presidents should enjoy presumptive immunity from prosecution for most actions taken as president.

The justices writing for a 4-3 majority said presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from any actions taken within the scope of their “core constitutional powers” as commander in chief.

A presumption of immunity also applies to other actions taken during the term, they said.

However, it is unclear whether a president would be afforded the same level of constitutional protection for state convictions, and the issue has never been tested in court.

Trump officials on Tuesday praised the break in the legal proceedings. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital that the pause makes it “very clear that the American people want an immediate end to the harmonization of our justice system, including this case … so that we can unify our country and we work together for the betterment of our nation.”

The Nov. 12 deadline is separate from the sentencing hearing for the 34 convictions, which had previously been set for Nov. 26.

Rather, it was a self-imposed deadline set by Merchan that allows him to consider Trump’s claims of presidential immunity and whether the Supreme Court’s July ruling on the scope of the immunity should apply at the state level .

Even if Trump’s convictions were upheld, the president-elect has countless ways to appeal or get the charges against him dismissed before his Nov. 26 sentencing hearing — ensuring he won’t end up behind bars.

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Former President Donald Trump, left, attends the first day of his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15. Judge Juan Merchan poses for a photo in his chambers on March 14 in New York. (Angela Weiss/AFP via AP, POOL/AP)

The first would be to move the case from state to federal court — something Trump’s lawyers tried twice and failed to do in the months leading up to the election. However, their request to take the case to federal court now carries more weight given Trump’s status as president-elect.

If that fails, Trump’s lawyers would likely appeal the convictions before his sentencing hearing, using the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling as a reason to dismiss the charges.

They are also likely to use the immunity claim to throw out parts of the evidence used by prosecutors in the New York case, including testimony from former White House communications director Hope Hicks.

Even if all of that fails, legal analysts and former prosecutors have flatly rejected the idea that Trump would face prison time for the convictions.

“Understand, Trump will not go to jail even if Merchan promises jail time. Although the charges are felonies, they are not serious enough under New York law to merit immediate detention; Trump will be granted bail pending appeal,” Andrew McCarthy, a former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he wrote in an opinion piece last week for Fox News Digital.

Judge Juan M. Merchan poses in his chambers in New York on March 14, 2024 in this file photo. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

If Merchan had moved to keep the convictions intact, he could have sought additional guidance from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, including whether Trump should be subject to state convictions as a sitting president — a question that does not has never been tested.

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Trump’s legal team would almost certainly challenge any conviction to the extent Supreme Courtif necessary.

Trump is shielded from federal convictions under longstanding Justice Department policy that prevents U.S. attorneys from prosecuting a sitting president.

However, this precedent has never been applied to state convictions, giving Judge Merchan somewhat wider leeway in deciding how to proceed.

The main entrance to Trump Tower in Manhattan. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)

His decision comes days after special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion to strike out all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against President-elect Trump in Washington, DC

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Smith was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2022 to investigate both the alleged effort by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election and Trump’s retention of allegedly classified documents at his Florida residence after left the White House. in 2020.

While those charges have not been officially dropped, the special counsel appears to be moving in that direction, and Smith said his team plans to file an updated report on the official status of the case against Trump on Dec. 2.

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Fox News Digital that state and local prosecutors and judges must move on from the “spectacle” of prosecuting the president-elect.