United States v. Smith

Full title: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. DENNIS SMITH, Defendant.

Court: United States District Court, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Division

Date published: Apr 19, 2022

1:18CR370 (N.D. Ohio Apr. 19, 2022)

Opinion

1:18CR370

04-19-2022

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. DENNIS SMITH, Defendant.

JOHN R. ADAMS, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

ORDER

JOHN R. ADAMS, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Pending before the Court are Defendant's motions for compassionate release and his motion for new counsel. Docs. 54, 56, and 70. Upon review, the motions are DENIED.

Within the COVID-19 backdrop, the Sixth Circuit explained this Court's duties and obligations when considering a motion for compassionate release as follows:

“In resolving those motions, district courts now face two questions: (1) whether extraordinary and compelling circumstances merit a sentence reduction; and (2) whether the applicable § 3553(a) factors warrant such a reduction. A third consideration, the § 1B1.13 policy statement, is no longer a requirement courts must address in ruling on defendant-filed motions.” Hampton, 985 F.3d at 531. To that end, district courts need not confine themselves to evaluating “extraordinary and compelling reasons” as defined by the Sentencing Commission in the § 1B1.13 policy statement. Elias, 984 F.3d at 519.

United States v. Montero, 842 Fed.Appx. 1007, 1008 (6th Cir. 2021). “A district court has ‘full discretion' in determining whether an extraordinary and compelling reason justifies compassionate release.” Id. at 1009.

For over two years now, courts have routinely found that the COVID-19 pandemic, when coupled with other health concerns, has constituted an extraordinary and compelling reason justifying further consideration of a motion for compassionate release. At the same time, the Sixth Circuit has noted that a district court does not abuse its discretion when denying a motion when the prison facility at issue has no positive cases. See United States v. Elias, 984 F.3d 516, 521 (6th Cir. 2021) (finding that it was not an abuse of discretion to deny compassionate release when Alderson had no reported cases and therefore only presented a speculative risk to the movant).

The Court notes that Smith is currently housed at FCI Gilmer, a facility that currently has one positive case within its inmate population. Accordingly, Defendant's motion for compassionate release presents only a speculative risk.

The motions for compassionate release are DENIED.

IT IS SO ORDERED.