| SDNY Judge Marrero Says Arena in FMC
Devens Must Exhaust Remedies While Judge
Castel Urges Practical Solution
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 6 –
Steven Arena is serving one
year and one day in Federal
Medical Camp Devens in a
Genovese Family Mafia
racketeers case. But on April
3 amid the Coronavirus
pandemic his lawyer argued for
his early compassionate
release before U.S. District
Court for the Southern
District of New York Judge
Victor Marrero.
Things
have not gone well for him, as
least not yet.
Judge
Marrero in a ruling dated
April 4 but dockets on April 6
wrote that while "the Court is
entirely sympathetic to the
plight of Arena and other
inmates in his position [it
is] constrained to deny his
request. There is simply no
authority that permits Arena
to circumvent the
administrative exhaustion
requirements. The statute -
passed as part of the First
Step Act - provides that
courts may consider
compassionate release motions
only 'after the defendant has
fully exhausted all
administrative rights to
appeal a failure of the Bureau
of Prisons to bring a motion
on the defendant's behalf of
the lapse of 30 days from the
receipt of such a request by
the warden of the defendant's
facility, whichever is
earlier...' 18 USC Section
3582(c)(1)(A). As the Supreme
Court has instructed, '[w]here
Congress specifically
mandates, exhaustion in
required.' McCarthy v.
Madigan, 503 U.S. 140, 144
(1992).... The Court therefore
encourages Arena to renew his
Motion as soon as the
statutory period of thirty
days has elapsed." Inner City
Press will continue to cover
this case; it is US v. Arena,
18-cr-14 (Marrero).
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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