Opinion
2:21-CR-018
06-28-2023
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, v. LARISA KHARITON, and EDUCATIONAL WORLD, INC., Defendants.
ORDER
LISA GODBEY WOOD, JUDGE
Defendant Larisa Khariton is scheduled for sentencing at the United States Federal Courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia, on June 29, 2023. Dkt. No. 501 at 1. Previously, she filed a motion for permission to participate in her sentencing by electronic means, citing various health conditions. See generally Dkt. No. 494. The Court denied her motion without prejudice for failure to show "good cause." Dkt. No. 495 at 2-14. The Court explained, "while danger to one's medical health would clearly constitute 'good cause' justifying a defendant's absence from sentencing, [Defendant Khariton] failed to provide any evidence that the conditions surrounding her sentencing would endanger her medical health." Id. at 13-14 (quoting United States v. Wright, 342 F.Supp.2d 1068, 1070 (M.D. Ala. 2004)).
Defendant Khariton has now renewed her motion for permission to participate in her sentencing by electronic means. Dkt. No. 501. Attached to Defendant Khariton's motion is a note from her treating physician, wherein the physician lists Defendant Khariton's health conditions and attests that her attendance at sentencing “would pose dangers to her health." Id. at 2. As a result, Defendant Khariton has presented evidence of “'good cause' justifying [her] absence from sentencing." Wright, 342 F.Supp. at 1070. Defendant Khariton's renewed motion for permission to participate in her sentencing by electronic means, dkt. no. 501, is therefore GRANTED.
The renewed motion states that both Defendant Khariton and Defendant Educational World, Inc. (“Educational World") move for permission to participate in the sentencing hearings by electronic means. Dkt. No. 501 at 1. Because the Court granted the original motion for sentencing by electronic means as to Defendant Educational World, provided its counsel is present at sentencing, dkt. no. 495 at 14-15, the renewed motion, dkt. no. 501, is DENIED as moot as to Educational World.
SO ORDERED.