Opinion
BENJAMIN B. WAGNER, United States Attorney, CHRISTOPHER S. HALES, Assistant United States Attorney, Sacramento, CA, Attorneys for Plaintiff, United States of America.
THOMAS ALLAN BOUFFARD, Defendant.
STIPULATION AND ORDER EXTENDING DEFENDANT'S DEADLINE TO REPORT TO BUREAU OF PRISONS TO BEGIN SERVING PRISON SENTENCE
MORRISON C. ENGLAND, Jr., Chief District Judge.
Introduction
On October 29, 2009, Defendant Thomas Allan Bouffard was sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment of 5 months, among other terms. The defendant was initially ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons on May 21, 2010, extended by multiple stipulations and orders to June 21, 2010, to September 21, 2010, to January 21, 2011, to May 21, 2011, to August 22, 2011, to October 21, 2011, to January 20, 2012, to April 20, 2012, to August 20, 2012, January 18, 2013, and again to June 11, 2013.
Mr. Bouffard has again contacted the prosecutor and explained that he continues to recover from spinal surgeries he underwent in April 2010 and February 2013, and needs to continue to work with his Kaiser Permanente doctors to recover and address related bladder and spinal problems. He has supplied verification in the form of a letter from one of his doctors at Kaiser's spine clinic in Vallejo (Exhibit 1), a printout of upcoming appointments (Exhibit 2), and emails to his doctors seeking letters explaining his medical situation (Exhibit 3). Mr. Bouffard is still awaiting a letter from Dr. Aquaviva, who is apparently his urologist. Based on these documents and communications from Mr. Bouffard, who is representing himself in this matter, the government is satisfied that the defendant continues to have spinal cord and bladder function issues as discussed in previous similar stipulations. Among other things, Mr. Bouffard is to have another epidural steroidal injection on June 18, 2013. See Exhibit 1.
The government is willing to allow Mr. Bouffard an extension of his deadline to report to the Bureau of Prisons until August 16, 2013. This is roughly a two-month extension, and is shorter than previous extensions. At the time of the previous six-month extension in January, the defendant had a pending surgery. Defendant does not now have any pending surgeries, though he does have the epidural steroidal injection scheduled for next week. AUSA Hales believes two months is an adequate period of time within which Mr. Bouffard and his doctors can assess the success of that injection, and his overall medical status. Mr. Bouffard's reporting date has now been extended for a combined total of over three years and the government is anxious to see his sentence served once Mr. Bouffard is medically able to do so. Mr. Bouffard has been advised that the government will be disinclined to stipulate to future extensions absent documentation from his doctors establishing that he is medically unable to commence serving his sentence. As the August deadline approaches, Mr. Bouffard should contact AUSA Hales if he needs additional time for medical treatment and his doctors believe he cannot begin serving his sentence on that date because of the need for ongoing medical treatment.
Stipulation
The parties hereby stipulate that the deadline for Mr. Bouffard to report to the Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his five-month term of incarceration may be extended to August 16, 2013, by 2:00 p.m. If a place of incarceration has not been designated by that deadline, Mr. Bouffard must report to the United States Marshal's Office within the Federal Courthouse, located on the Fifth floor of the Courthouse at 501 I Street, Sacramento, California.
ORDER
Good cause appearing therefore, the same is hereby ordered.