Opinion
20CR0109-H
10-27-2021
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. ROBERT ALAN BALTAZAR, Defendant.
ORDER DENYING WITHOUT PREJUDICE DEFENDANT'S REQUEST FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE UNDER 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)
HONORABLE MARILYN L. HUFF, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Pending before the Court is Defendant Robert Alan Baltazar's (“Defendant”) request for compassionate release under Title 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). (Doc. No. 48.) Title 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1) permits a court to modify a defendant's term of imprisonment “upon motion of the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, or upon motion of the defendant after the defendant has fully exhausted all administrative rights to appeal a failure of the Bureau of Prisons to bring a motion on the defendant's behalf or the lapse of 30 days from the receipt of such a request by the warden of the defendant's facility, whichever is earlier[.]”
There is no evidence in the record indicating that the Defendant submitted his request for compassionate release to the Bureau of Prisons. Therefore, the Defendant has not demonstrated that he has exhausted his administrative remedies as required by statute. Accordingly, the Court DENIES WITHOUT PREJUDICE the Defendant's request for compassionate release under § 3582(c)(1)(A). United States v. Keller, 2 F.4th 1278, 1282 (9th Cir. 2021) (“Joining the unanimous consensus of our sister circuits, we hold that § 3582(c)(1)(A)'s administrative exhaustion requirement imposes a mandatory claim-processing rule that must be enforced when properly invoked.”); See also United States v. Holden, 452 F.Supp.3d 964, 969 (D. Or. 2020) (Brown, J.) (“A defendant seeking a reduction in his terms of imprisonment bears the burden to establish… that he has satisfied the procedural prerequisites for judicial review[.]”); United States v. Hutchinson, No. 2:12-CR-079, 2020 WL 6271209, at *2 (S.D. Ohio Oct. 26, 2020) (Marbley, C.J.) (“[E]nforc[ing] the mandatory-claim processing rule sua sponte” and denying without prejudice a defendant's motion for compassionate release for failure to exhaust his administrative remedies).
The Clerk is directed to send a copy of this order to the Defendant.
IT IS SO ORDERED.