| SDNY Judge Carter Says Demaj in MDC
Must Exhaust Remedies While Judge Castel
Urges Practical Solution
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 2 –
Kushtrim Demaj is serving one
year and one day after a
cocaine conviction. But on
April 2 amid the Coronavirus
pandemic his lawyer Jeff
Cabrowe argued for his early
release before U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Andrew L. Carter.
Things did
not go well.
Judge
Carter quickly asserted the
need to exhaust administrative
remedies under the First Step
Act, an issue confronted by
many SDNY judges, see below.
Chabrowe asked if he should
apply directly to the MDC
Warden; Judge Carter replied,
I'm not going to tell you how
to do your job.
And with
that it was over, in a mere
ten minutes. Inner City Press
was the only media covering
it, as also the case below.
This one is US v. Demaj,
16-cr-289 (Carter).
James
Woodson is a 56-year old
inmate in the Metropolitan
Correctional Center who has
been seeking compassionate
release under the First Step
Act. But the Bureau of Prisons
has yet to rule in any way on
his requests. Does he have to
wait?
On April 1
Woodon's Federal Defender
Sarah Baumgartel asked U.S.
District Court for the
Southern District of New York
Judge P. Kevin Castel to
"immediately grant Mr.
Woodson's motion to reduce his
sentence, and re-sentence him
to time served," with eight
months of home confinement
during a three year term of
supervised release.
Assistant US Attorney Louis
Pellegrino countered with a
decision by SDNY Judge Denise
Cote in US v. Monzon,
99-cr-157, that the claimed
statutory exhaustion
requirement must be "strictly
enforced."
Judge Castel reserved
judgment, indicating he would
be preparing a legal ruling
but urging AUSA Pellegrino to
find a practical solution, in
the form of a decision by the
Bureau of Prisons. Inner City
Press will continue to follow
this case. It is US v.
Woodson, 18-cr-845 (Castel).
***
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