Trump in Manhattan criminal court in May.Michael M. Santiago/PA Wire/Zuma

Donald Trump’s The criminal case ended with a bang Friday morning when a New York judge sentenced him to no prison time and concluded his trial. While the new president received no actual punishment for his 34 convictions for concealing hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels, the conviction formalized his status as a felon – a first for an American president. Trump was not required to be present in court for the verdict, but appeared via video from Mar-a-Lago sitting next to his lawyer.

During the brief hearing, prosecutors said they agreed with the plan to give Trump no prison time but insisted he must be classified as a felon. Joshua Steinglass of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office told Judge Juan Merchan that a probation report prepared for sentencing described Trump as above the law and refusing to take responsibility for his actions.

Steinglass argued that Trump, who appeared to be either asleep or pretending to be asleep for most of the trial and who used his social media to shame prosecutors, witnesses and Merchan and his family, should not deviate from his beliefs without formal recognition of his wrongdoing,

“This defendant has caused lasting damage to the public’s perception of the criminal justice system and endangered the officers of the court,” Steinglass said.

“This was a very terrible experience,” Trump complained in rambling remarks to Merchan, adding that he believed “it was a tremendous setback” for New York state. At one point he complained about his former fixer Michael Cohen, who testified against him in the case, saying that Cohen talks like George Washington: “But he’s not George Washington.”

Aside from other brief comments in which he once again denied that he had done anything and pointed to election results in swing states to seek vindication in the case, Trump reportedly spent most of Friday’s hearing either by appearing distracted by something in front of him – possibly a phone – or grimacing and shaking his head at negative descriptions of his behavior.

Trump and his legal team sought to delay or overturn the case and sentencing by appealing all the way to the Supreme Court, citing the Supreme Court’s July decision to grant presidents unprecedented immunity from prosecution. On Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected his efforts to clear the way for Friday’s verdict.

Speaking from the bench, Merchan reminded Trump that the presidential immunity he tried – and failed – to invoke to avoid conviction applied to the office of the president, not the person who held it. As Merchan put it, it did not protect “Donald Trump the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump the criminal defendant.”

The verdict of unconditional dismissal means that the case is closed, Trump will not be punished and, unlike a conditional dismissal, he does not have to meet any conditions – such as maintaining a job, passing drug tests or paying compensation – to face further consequences to avoid.

During the trial, Trump was fined $9,000 for contempt.