Federal Compassionate Release Granted

By the time we were retained in this matter, P.P. had already been sentenced to serve 20 years in federal prison for Conspiracy to Commit Mail and Wire Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering. P.P. was diagnosed with Stage IV inoperable lung cancer. We were retained to assist P.P. in obtaining an early release under the Compassionate Release Act in 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). At the time, (and this has changed), only the Bureau of Prisons could determine who met the criteria for eligibility. As expected, all requests (including appeals) to the Bureau of Prisons were denied. Everything changed in 2019 with The First Step Act as it now allows a sentencing judge to exercise the discretion to grant a motion for compassionate release after all administrative remedies with the Bureau of Prisons are exhausted. We sent a compassionate release request to the B.O.P. and simultaneously filed a motion for compassionate release with the district court pursuant to the First Step Act. The Government fought us every step of the way by filing frivolous responses with the court stating that the matter was either not yet ripe for review, or if it was, the motion should be denied given how much time our client had left to serve, the seriousness of the offense, our client’s past criminal history and other factors that had absolutely nothing to do with the issue. The judge granted us a hearing on the matter. As expected, the Government continued to oppose our request. Despite this, within a few hours of the hearing, the judge granted our compassionate release request and ordered our client immediately released. Our client was released, and he died a free man with his family by his side.