March 31: Every day, hundreds of people are taken into law enforcement custody in New York City. Former President Donald Trump is expected to become one of them as early as next week. Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, prosecutors and defense lawyers said Thursday, after an investigation into payments made during his 2016 presidential campaign to silence claims of an extramarital sexual encounter. The indictment itself remains sealed for now in the first criminal case ever brought against a former U.S. president.    
Trump — a Republican who assailed the case Thursday as a Democratic prosecutor's “political persecution” of “a completely innocent person” — is expected to turn himself in to authorities next week, according to a person familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly. The person said the details of a surrender are still being worked out.    
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office said it had contacted Trump's lawyer to coordinate his surrender and arraignment.    

For any New York defendant, poor or powerful, answering criminal charges means being fingerprinted and photographed, fielding basic questions such as name and birthdate, and getting arraigned. All told, defendants are typically detained for at least several hours. There can be differences in where the different steps happen, how long they take, whether handcuffs come out and other particulars. A lot depends on the severity of the case and whether defendants arrange to turn themselves in. But there is no playbook for booking an ex-president with US Secret Service protection. Agents are tasked with the protection of former presidents unless and until they say they don’t need it. Trump has kept his detail, so agents would need to be by his side at all times.    
 If Trump indeed turns himself in, expect a carefully choreographed and relatively quick process and release without bail (as is common in New York) — and with a focus on security. A former president isn’t likely to be paraded in cuffs across a sidewalk or through a crowded courthouse hallway, Saland predicts. “It’s a public forum, but safety is also paramount,” he notes.    
If defendants are notified of an indictment or an impending arrest, they often arrange to turn themselves in. Doing so can smooth the process and strengthen arguments for bail by showing that they aren’t evading the case.    -- AP/RSS