NEW YORK >> A New York appellate court Tuesday declined to halt President-elect Donald Trump’s criminal sentencing, damping his hopes of shutting down the case before returning to the White House.

Trump, who is scheduled to face sentencing Friday, 10 days before being sworn in for a second presidential term, had asked the state appeals court to intervene and freeze the proceeding. His lawyers had argued that Trump was entitled to full immunity from prosecution, and even sentencing, now that he was the president-elect.

The emergency application went to a single appellate court judge, Ellen Gesmer, who held a brief hearing Tuesday before denying Trump’s request 30 minutes later.

At the hearing, Gesmer appeared highly skeptical of Trump’s arguments, grilling his lawyer about whether he had “any support for a notion that presidential immunity extends to president-elects?”

The lawyer, Todd Blanche, conceded that he did not, saying: “There has never been a case like this before.”