It now appears that New York Judge Juan Merchan will not be sending President-Elect Donald Trump to prison. 

Merchan, according to the Associated Press, indicated as much in a decision that he released on Friday.

Many are wondering whether this decision was made by the law or by the 2024 election. Would, for example, Merchan have made a different decision if he Trump lost the 2024 election?

We, of course, may never know the answer to that one. Trump, however, is not completely in the clear just yet.

Here's what is going on:

This all regards the so-called hush-money case that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) brought against Trump. This is the one in which Bragg alleged that Trump committed a crime by improperly recording a payment that he allegedly made to an adult film star with whom he allegedly had an affair.

Despite the fact that the case was extremely flimsy - so much so that legal experts on both sides of the aisle have said that it should never have been brought - Bragg did manage to get a criminal conviction of Trump, with the help of Merchan.

The big question has been what punishment Merchan will give Trump. A prison sentence was a possibility.

The case was highly charged politically for the obvious reason that it was a political persecution. Merchan was aware of this which is exactly why he changed his mind about when to sentence Trump on multiple occasions.

Now, however, it appears that Merchan is getting ready to finally release his decision.

No jail time expected

In a decision that he released on Friday, Merchan indicated that he will not be sentencing Trump to prison.

The Associated Press reports:

In an extraordinary turn, a judge Friday set President-elect Donald Trump’s sentencing in his hush money criminal case for Jan. 10 — little over a week before he’s due to return to the White House — but indicated he wouldn’t be jailed.

The outlet goes on to write:

Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan, who presided over Trump’s trial, signaled in a written decision that he’d sentence the former and future president to what’s known as an unconditional discharge, in which a conviction stands but the case is closed without jail time, a fine or probation.

It is likely, however, that Merchan will attempt to use that Jan. 10 sentencing to "dunk" on Trump.

Trump, for his part, has released a statement on the situation. In part, he wrote, "There has never been a President who was so evilly and illegally treated as I. Corrupt Democrat judges and prosecutors have gone against a political opponent of a President, ME, at levels of injustice never seen before."