The American legal system weathered an extraordinary trial when a Manhattan jury convicted former president Donald Trump on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on Thursday.

The guilty verdict stemmed from the 2016 hush money payments made to bury allegations of an affair. Prosecutors argued Trump falsified records to conceal reimbursements to his lawyer Michael Cohen for the $130,000 payout meant to insulate his campaign from damaging revelations.

From the outset, the trial represented a minefield for prosecutors. Any misstep risked inflaming charges of a witch hunt from Trump’s camp. Yet a failure to vigorously pursue the case would open allegations of the judicial system going easy on the elite and powerful.

Ultimately, a jury of 12 New Yorkers unanimously found Trump guilty, rejecting his assertions of victimhood and a rigged trial. While Trump has vowed to appeal, each of the 34 felony charges carries up to a $5,000 fine and a four-year prison sentence.

How the justice system handles Trump post-conviction will prove an even greater test.

Judge Juan M. Merchan must calculate appropriate sentencing by July 11 against the prospect of rendering a former president a political martyr. Given Trump’s persistent claims of a vengeful political prosecution, anything perceived as excessive could become a rallying cry for his MAGA supporters.

The minimum sentence for falsifying business records in the first degree is zero, so Trump could receive probation or conditional discharge where he would have to wear an ankle bracelet rather than go to jail.

Underlying it all is the reality that Trump remains the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee for president – an unprecedented scenario in American politics. No major party has ever nominated a convicted felon as its candidate for the nation’s highest office.

It now falls to voters to deliver the ultimate verdict.