Opinion
3:23-cr-00135-DCN
10-24-2024
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. TRACY LYNN PRIOR, Defendant.
MEMORANDUM DECISION
David C. Nye Chief U.S. District Court Judge
Sentencing is set for October 30, 2024. Defendant filed a Motion to Continue Sentencing on October 9, 2024. Dkt. 29. The Government filed a Response on October 11, 2024. Dkt. 31. Finally, on October 11, 2024, the Defendant filed a Reply. Dkt. 34. The Court, in a Minute Entry and Order, denied the Motion to Continue Sentencing on October 16, 2024. Dkt. 35. This memorandum is intended to supplement and explain the denial.
BACKGROUND
The Grand Jury indicted Defendant on May 16, 2023. She appeared for arraignment on June 1, 2023, and pled not guilty. On December 11, 2023, she pled guilty. Sentencing was set for March 5, 2024. The Court continued sentencing at Defendant's request and the new sentencing date was June 25, 2024. The sentencing was continued a second time due to a conflict in the Court's schedule. This time the sentencing date was set for August 1, 2024. On July 11, 2024, the Defendant requested her second continuance, which was granted, and sentencing was reset for October 30, 2024. Now, she seeks her third continuance.
DISCUSSION
It has been almost ten months since the Defendant pled guilty. Defendant wants to move the sentencing another 90 days at a minimum. That would be more than a year since the guilty plea. Her only purported reason for the continuance is to obtain a complete examination by a forensic psychiatrist. Specifically, Defendant seeks a psychiatric evaluation to try to link her criminal activities to the medication she was taking at the time of the offense. According to the Defendant, that medication is Duloxetine, Metformin, and Pramipexole, which she claims are dopamine agonists that cause a compulsive gambling disorder.
The articles Defendant relies on are dated 2009, 2014, 2021, and 2023. Although the Motion to Continue contains some general language suggesting that “it was only recently that this information came to light”, there is no actual information as to when the defense learned of the potential connection between her medication and gambling or why it was not learned earlier.
This refers to when Defendant learned there may be a connection between her medication and her claimed gambling disorder.
The articles relied upon by Defendant and submitted to the Court do not mention Metformin or Duloxetine, only Pramipexole. Pramipexole is a dopamine. Metformin and Duloxetine are not. Additionally, the articles suggest that there is a correlation between the medication and patients with Parkinson's disease or restless leg disorder and a higher risk of gambling disorder. In other words, it is not the medication alone that causes gambling disorder, it is the medication along with a specific disease that causes gambling disorder in less than 6% of the people with those diseases. Here, there is nothing in the record to suggest that Defendant has Parkinson's disease or restless leg disorder. In fact, other than the limited medical history reported by Defendant in the PSR, there are no medical records in this record. That limited medical history says nothing about Parkinson's disease or Restless Leg Syndrome.
Pramipexole is a dopamine agonist that works on the nervous system to treat symptoms of Parkinson disease and Restless Legs Syndrome. See, https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/pramipexole-oral-route/description/drg-20065603.
Metformin is used to treat high blood sugar levels that are caused by type 2 diabetes. See, https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/metformin-oral-route/description/drg-20067074.
Duloxetine is a selective serotonin inhibitor used to treat depression and anxiety as well as pain caused by nerve damage associated with diabetes. See, https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/duloxetine-oral-route/description/drg-20067247.
As stated in Defendant's Exhibit 2, “Patients with Parkinson's disease, restless leg syndrome and other conditions potentially treated with dopamine agonists, as well as patients treated for psychotic disorders, are vulnerable patient groups with theoretically increased risk of developing gambling disorder (GD), for example due to higher rates of mental ill-health in these groups.”
Rule 32(b)(1) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires a Court to impose sentence without unnecessary delay. Additionally, 18 U.S.C. § 3771 gives crime victims certain rights including the right to proceedings free from unnecessary delay. The Court agrees with the Government that further delay is not necessary. Defendant can make her mitigation arguments at sentencing without a psychiatric report. There is no question she was taking Pramipexole at the time of this offense. But the studies are unclear as to whether there is sufficient connection in the scientific community to link that medication to obsessive gambling.
Again, Defense Exhibit 2 states, “A causal relationship between the medications and GD seems likely, but the molecular mechanisms behind this association have not been fully described yet. More research is needed in order to fully outline the clinical picture of GD developing in patient groups with dopaminergic medications, and data are needed on the differentiation of risk in different compounds.” Exhibit 2 was published in January of 2023.
CONCLUSION
The Motion to Continue is denied for the reasons explained above. Sentencing will proceed on October 30, 2024, as scheduled.