Opinion
Case No. 1:10-cr-00098-BLW
01-15-2021
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. TIMOTHY SHAWN ANDERSON, Defendant.
MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER
INTRODUCTION
Before the Court is Timothy Anderson's Emergency Motion for Compassionate Release. Dkt. 26. The Government does not oppose the motion. Dkt. 28. For the reasons below, the Court will grant the motion.
BACKGROUND
In 2010, Anderson pled guilty to one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and was sentenced to the applicable mandatory minimum of 180 months incarceration. Anderson was arrested in connection with an online sex sting operation involving an officer posing as a 15-year-old girl in an online chat room. He engaged in explicit communications with the officer and was arrested when he showed up to an undercover house with a camera and a condom.
Anderson has served approximately 133 months of his 180-month sentence. His projected release date is February 4, 2023. He is currently incarcerated at FCI Lompoc, which currently has 0 inmates and 2 staff with active COVID-19 infections. https://www.bop.gov/coronavirus/ (last accessed January 14, 2021). However, Lompoc was hit hard with COVID-19 early on, with over 1,000 inmates infected since the start of the pandemic.
Anderson tested positive for COVID-19 in May 2020 and has since recovered. He is 41 years old and suffers from hypertension and obesity. Dkt. 26 at 4, 9-10; see Dkt. 26-3.
Anderson has done well while incarcerated. He has taken over 50 programming courses and earned his associate's degree in August 2016. Since then, he has continued to take courses and is working towards a bachelor's degree. He had one disciplinary infraction in December 2010 involving the unauthorized possession of smart-vend cards, but his disciplinary record is otherwise free of incidents. Dkt. 26 at 7; Dkt. 26-2 at 1.
LEGAL STANDARD
Anderson seeks compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(1)(A). To grant compassionate release, a district court must, as a threshold matter, determine whether a defendant has exhausted his or her administrative remedies. Id. If the exhaustion requirement is met, the court must consider the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors. Id. Then the Court may grant compassionate release only if the defendant shows that "extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant such a reduction." and the reduction is "consistent with applicable policy statements" issued by the U.S. Sentencing Commission. Id.; United States v. Rodriguez, 424 F. Supp. 3d 674, 680 (N.D. Cal. 2019). The defendant bears the burden of establishing that extraordinary and compelling reasons exist to justify compassionate release. See United States v. Greenhut, 2020 WL 509385, at *1 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 31, 2020) (citing United States v. Sprague, 135 F.3d 1301, 1306-07 (9th Cir. 1998)).
ANALYSIS
Anderson requested compassionate release from the Warden at FCI Lompoc in April 2020. Dkt. 26 at 19. The Government does not dispute that 30 days have passed since he requested release. Dkt. 28 at 1. Therefore, he has exhausted his remedies under § 3582(c)(1)(A) and his motion is ripe for consideration.
The Government agrees that the § 3553(a) factors support Anderson's release. He has already served the majority of his 180-month sentence. Further, his commitment to rehabilitation while incarcerated shows that he will not be a danger to the community if released. The Government also agrees, and the Court finds, that Anderson has shown extraordinary and compelling reasons for release based on his health conditions and increased risk of a severe outcome from COVID-19.
Accordingly, the Court will grant Anderson's motion and the Government's request that Anderson quarantine for a period of 14 days before his release from BOP custody.
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED that:
1. Timothy Anderson's Emergency Motion for Compassionate Release (Dkt. 26) is GRANTED.
2. Timothy Anderson be quarantined for 14 days prior to his release from BOP custody.
3. Upon completion of his 14-day quarantine the Bureau of Prisons is directed to release Timothy Anderson from incarceration to begin serving his term of Supervised Release.
DATED: January 15, 2021
/s/_________
B. Lynn Winmill
U.S. District Court Judge
See U.S. Dep't of Justice, Office of the Inspector General, Pandemic Response Report 20-86: Remote Inspection of Federal Correctional Complex Lompoc at iii (July 2020) (available at https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/reports/20-086_0.pdf).