The court granted Schella Hope’s motion for compassionate release for the following reasons. First, the court briefly noted, and the government conceded, that Hope exhausted her administrative remedies. Second, the court found that Hope had extraordinary and compelling reasons for sentence reduction because of the constellation of her health conditions (immunosuppression due to drugs taken to treat Rheumatoid Arthritis and secondary Sjogrens Syndrome, asthma, moderate multilevel facet degeneration with foraminal stenosis, degenerative bone marrow edema, disc protrusions) and the prevalence of COVID-19 infections in her prison facility, which could expose her to greater harm and render her unable to care for herself if she were to contract it. Also, the court noted that there had already been incidents where Hope injured herself due to her conditions, and she had been unable to access adequate medical care consistently in the prison setting. Third, the court examined the § 3142(g) and § 3553(a) factors and concluded that they weigh in favor of her release; although her fraud scheme was a serious crime, Hope (1) had no criminal history before the present case, (2) demonstrated exemplary behavior while incarcerated, and (3) already served significant time in prison, all of which were factors indicating that she would not be a danger to the community and that she received just punishment for her offense. As such, compassionate release was granted on the conditions that she goes through a fourteen-day quarantine period and serves her supervised release in home confinement.
United States v. Hope, No. CR 213-016-1, 2020 WL 4207107 (S.D. Ga. July 22, 2020)
DETAILS
Decision
Date
07/22/2020
Practice Area
Criminal (Federal Charges)
Relief Requested
Release
Type of Court
Federal District Court
Location
Georgia
Type of Case
Individual
Case Characteristics
Post-Conviction Detention [jail or prison], Pre-Existing Health Conditions
Release Granted
Yes
Compassionate Release Case
Yes
Compassionate Release Specific Characteristics
Went to trial
Case Tracking Number
2:13-cr-00016-LGW-BWC
MORE CASE INFORMATION
Court Name
S.D. Ga.
Decision
Motion Granted
Place of Incarceration
Federal Prison
Name of Facility
Federal Medical Center Carswell
Legal Authority
First Step Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)
Legal Authority
U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13
Release Conditions
Fourteen-day quarantine; supervised release in home confinement
Convictions
Health care fraud; conspiracy to commit health care fraud; aggravated identity theft; money laundering; money laundering in transactions over $10,000
Case Status
Decision Made
Pre-Existing Health Conditions
Asthma, Medication-Related Immunocompromise, Other, Secondary Sjogrens Syndrome; moderate multilevel facet degeneration with foraminal stenosis; degenerative bone marrow edema; disc protrusions
Crowdsourced legal documents from around the country related to COVID-19 and incarceration, organized, collected, and summarized for public defenders, litigators, and other advocates. Created and managed by Bronx Defenders, Columbia Law School’s Center for Institutional and Social Change, UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project, and Zealous. Mostly federal court opinions, but now expanding to states and legal filings, declarations, and exhibits.
This resource is designed to help lawyers, advocates, researchers, journalists, and others interested in challenging, remedying, or drawing attention to the grave risk that Covid-19 poses to individuals who are detained.