Manhattan prosecutors left the politically fraught decision of when to sentence Donald J. Trump in his criminal hush-money case to a judge, declining to endorse or oppose the former president’s request to postpone until after the November election.

The sentencing is currently set for Sept. 18, just seven weeks before Election Day, when Mr. Trump, now a felon, will square off for the presidency against Vice President Kamala Harris. Mr. Trump had asked to postpone the sentencing until after the election partly so he had more time to challenge his conviction.

In a letter to the judge overseeing the case, Justice Juan M. Merchan, prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office acknowledged the existing schedule posed some challenges. But the prosecutors also disputed many of Mr. Trump’s arguments for delaying his sentencing, and said they were “prepared to appear for sentencing” at any date the judge chooses.

“The people defer to the court on the appropriate post-trial schedule that allows for adequate time” for Mr. Trump to challenge his conviction, “while also pronouncing sentence without unreasonable delay,” the prosecutors wrote in the letter, dated Aug. 16 and released on Monday.

The district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, appeared to strike a middle ground in hopes of navigating around a partisan backlash so close to Election Day.

Had Mr. Bragg opposed a postponement, Mr. Trump would have accused him of meddling in the election. But explicitly consenting to Mr. Trump’s delay tactics might have alienated Mr. Bragg’s liberal Manhattan base as it demands accountability for the former president, who was convicted in May of falsifying business records to conceal a sex scandal.