Celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax that the judge in Donald Trump's rigged "hush money" trial will likely sentence Trump to at least two years of incarceration but suspend the sentence to "send a message."

"I think the judge will sentence him to a prison term of two or three years but suspend the sentence as to send a message that he deserves to get a prison term," Dershowitz said.

Trump's sentence

Dershowitz highlighted some of the issues with the case, including biased jury instructions which left "no choice but to convict," Stormy Daniels' salacious and prejudicial testimony, and the flimsiness of the "made up" charges.

"All that mattered is that the person on trial was Donald Trump," he said.

"There are dozens of appealable issues. I'm probably the most experienced private appellate lawyer in criminal cases in the country, and I can tell you that for a trial that lasted as long as this one did, I've never seen so many reversible errors."

The case "wasn't a trial" but a "predetermined, orchestrated result," Dershowitz said.

"As soon as this judge was selected, as soon as this prosecutor was allowed to change the mind of all previous prosecutors and then to select the place where the trial would occur in New York, in Manhattan, where close to 90% of the jury [choices] would hate Donald Trump. This was not a trial."

Has judge made up his mind?

The overwhelming bias shown by the judge makes it difficult to predict how he will handle the extraordinary responsibility of the July 11 sentencing.

Will Merchan show restraint and step back from jailing a political rival? Or will he plunge the nation into chaos by yielding to his most spiteful instincts?

In any case, the judge likely knows his punishment already because the instructions to the jury had a conviction baked in, Dershowitz said.

"The judge, I'm sure, made up his mind what he was going to sentence him to before the verdict came back, because he knew what the verdict was going to be based on the instructions. The jury had no choice but to convict."

Dershowitz suggested that Trump's lawyers try to move up the sentencing so they can move on to the appeal.

"You should never have the same people who lost the trial do the appeal because they're unconsciously always going to be trying to defend their own actions," he said.

"You need outsiders who are prepared to criticize some of the actions taken by the trial lawyers."