Opinion
Case No. 1:09:CR:185-01
06-08-2016
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. JOHN LEE BONDS #12287-040, Defendant.
MEMORANDUM REGARDING MOTION TO REDUCE SENTENCE
Defendant, John Lee Bonds, has moved for a sentence reduction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2).
This Court has actually had two criminal cases involving Mr. Bonds: 1:05:CR:108-GJQ-1, and 1:09:CR:185-GJQ-1.
In Case No. 1:05:CR:108, Bonds was indicted before this Court for distribution of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(c), which carried a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. However, Bonds entered into a plea agreement with the Government which, because of Bonds' rendering substantial assistance in the prosecution of others, agreed to dismiss the drug trafficking charge and file a new information charging Bonds with interstate travel in aid of racketeering (ITAR) enterprises pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1952(a)(3)(A)—an offense that carried a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The Court rejected this plea agreement, but the Government then simply moved to dismiss the § 841 charge and proceeded with the ITAR charge. The 60 month sentence was later reduced to 42 months pursuant to Fed. R. Crim. P. 35(b). However, Bonds violated his supervised release and was sentenced to an additional 13 months incarceration.
Shortly after his initial release from prison in Case No. 1:05:CR:108, Bonds again engaged in drug dealing and, in Case No. 1:09:CR:185, was indicted for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 846, 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A)(iii). Bonds' Guideline Range was 324 to 405 months. However, the Court granted a Government motion to reduce Bonds' sentence for rendering substantial assistance in the prosecution of others and sentenced Bonds to 293 months incarceration. U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1. The sentence runs consecutive to the supervised release sentence imposed in Case No. 1:05:CR:108. Bonds currently has a release date, according to the Government, of July 9, 2031 (ECF No. 208, at PageID.862).
During the sentencing, the Court expressed its regret for granting a deduction for acceptance of responsibility before having heard Bonds' allocation. --------
Whether or not to grant a reduction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) is discretionary. United States v. Johnson, 564 F.3d 419, 421-22 (6th Cir. 2009). In ruling on a request for a reduction, a court "shall consider the nature and seriousness of the danger to any person or the community that may be posed by a reduction in the defendant's term of imprisonment." U.S.S.G. § 1B1.10, cmt. n.1(B)(ii). The undersigned Judge has believed that, for the most part, the drug sentencing statutes and guidelines have been too harsh. Bonds does not fit the general rule. He is a vicious and dangerous person: • Once he was released on the ITAR charge, Bonds almost immediately returned to drug dealing. • Bonds carried firearms during his drug dealing. This count was dismissed by the Government as part of a plea deal. U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1). • Bonds was an organizer/leader of the drug dealing gang. U.S.S.G. § 3B1.1(a). • In 2008, after Bonds was released from the ITAR sentence, a Ms. Jones, who sold drugs for Bonds, refused to front drugs for Bonds. Jones was attacked by four other women, and Bonds said, "We rape bitches like you." Jones says that she was robbed of $600, about $1,000 worth of cocaine base, and two cellular phones. Ms. Jones said that Bonds "made me sell dope." PSR ¶¶ 27-28, 63. Ms. Jones was assaulted by Bonds and a female accomplice, which resulted in scars on her face and a stab wound to her body. She said that she had been kicked and beaten to the extent that she had a miscarriage. PSR ¶ 64. • A Robert Scott said that in 2009 Bonds sent him to a residence to commit a robbery. An associate of Bonds offered money to Scott's mother in order to get Scott out of jail, but Scott's mother refused the offer because she was afraid for her son's safety. PSR ¶ 56. • Bonds' driver said that Bonds threatened to shoot him because of missing crack cocaine. He also said that Bonds traded a firearm for rocks of cocaine. PSR ¶¶ 68-69. • Ms. Jones said that during a drug delivery, Bonds made the statement, "The police are on my side" because "I'm the best snitch they got." PSR ¶ 95. • On May 26, 2009, Bonds absconded from the KPEP halfway house program. PSR ¶ 97. • On June 30, 2009, Bonds fled from a residence wherein the police found a loaded, stolen firearm. PSR ¶ 98. • Clarence Bonds, Bonds' brother, said that John Bonds would threaten people with violence to be committed by Clarence Bonds. PSR ¶ 105. • The PSR sums up Bonds' activities after his release from the 2005 charge:
John Lee Bonds is viewed as the organizer/leader of this conspiracy involving more than five participants. He possessed weapons, threatened and attempted to bribe witnesses, stole controlled substances from others, and used fear to coerce others to distribute cocaine base. He stored cocaine base at the Thickstun Street duplex. All of this was accomplished while John Lee Bonds was on supervised release, in a half-way house, or incarcerated. PSR ¶ 117.• Bonds has never held employment. PSR ¶ 253. • The Plea Agreement saved Bonds from a life sentence. PSR ¶ 259; 21 U.S.C. § 851. • Bonds is currently incarcerated at FCI Williamsburg, Salters, SC, a medium security facility with an adjacent camp. While incarcerated, he has been disciplined for fighting, being insolent to staff, and refusing to obey. Bonds says that while at the Terra Haute Penitentiary he stepped in to help during a medical emergency to help staff care for another inmate even though that decision was a "dangerous one to make as it violated unwritten prisoner-to-prisoner rules." Bonds was, according to his counsel, recommended for a monetary special award for protecting the life of another inmate.
According to the Probation Officer's Sentence Modification Report (ECF No. 206), Bonds' new Guideline Range is 262 to 327 months. The Probation Officer's recommendation is 237 months—taking into account Bonds' sentencing reduction pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1.
Because of Bonds' past behavior of drug dealing and violence and the Court's fear that Bonds will revert to his violent and illegal lifestyle, the Court is reluctant to reduce Bonds' sentence at all. Nonetheless, considering all of the factors of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), plus the fact that the Court previously granted the Government's motion pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 5K1.1, the fact that Bonds did take some risk in stepping in during a medical emergency at some risk to himself, and the fact that Bonds is working on getting certificates from the BOP that should help him integrate into society when he is released, the Court will grant Bonds' motion for a sentence reduction and will reduce Bonds' sentence from the current 293 months to 269 months, which is a two year reduction and gives Bonds a projected release date of about July 9, 2029. By that time Bonds will be about 46 years old with plenty of life before him but, one hopes, with no inclination to engage in an illegal and dangerous lifestyle.
Accordingly, Defendant John Lee Bonds' motion for modification of sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) (ECF No. 175) will be granted in a separate Order. Dated: June 8, 2016
/s/ Gordon J. Quist
GORDON J. QUIST
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE