United States v. Adeyemi

• Decision Date: 06 July 2020
• Docket Number: CRIMINAL ACTION NO. 06-124
• Citation: 470 F.Supp.3d 489
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Samson ADEYEMI
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

470 F.Supp.3d 489

UNITED STATES of America

v.Samson ADEYEMI

CRIMINAL ACTION NO. 06-124

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

Filed July 6, 2020

Robert A. Zauzmer, Philadelphia, PA, for United States of America.

Andrew J. Frisch, Jolene F. LaVigne-Albert, Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP, New York, NY, Julie A. Busta, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Philadelphia, PA, for Samson Adeyemi.

MEMORANDUM

KEARNEY, J.

For the past thirty-six years, sentencing policy set by Congress seeks finality in sentences. Federal judges are not quasi-parole boards. But Congress allows a judge to later modify a final sentence for extraordinary and compelling reasons if consistent with applicable policy statements from the United States Sentencing Commission. Over thirteen years ago, the Sentencing Commission identified four extraordinary and compelling reasons to reduce a final sentence, including the incarcerated person's terminal medical condition, age/physical deterioration/time in custody, and family circumstances. To ensure flexibility, and at issue today, is its fourth reason: a sentence may be reduced for an extraordinary and compelling reason "other than, or in combination with" these three defined grounds as determined by the Director of the Bureau of Prisons. While the Sentencing Commission specifically defines the first three fact conditions, only the Director sets factors to understand what "other" reasons might warrant compassionate release.

These principles have stood firm for decades. But the December 2018 passage of the First Step Act and the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in our federal prisons the last four months test our understanding of these policies. As Judge Brody observed in the early days of the pandemic, "nothing could be more extraordinary and compelling than this pandemic."¹ But neither Congress nor the Sentencing Commission can timely amend policy today while medically vulnerable incarcerated persons face COVID-19 outbreaks in our federal prisons while serving sentences which Congress declared in December 2018 to be too long.

The United States argues we can do nothing about this admitted injustice until Congress or the Sentencing Commission give us the green light. It argues only the Bureau of Prisons can apply the flexibility in the catch-all provision and we are bound by thirteen year old policies not yet amended to address the First Step Act's purpose of streamlined review by federal judges especially considering the undeniable risk of COVID-19 harm for medically vulnerable incarcerated persons. We agree federal judges do not set policy and are not parole boards. We also agree neither Congress nor the Sentencing Commission has yet declared a policy allowing an amendment to law affecting the length of some sentences to alone constitute an "other" extraordinary and compelling reason to modify a final sentence from fourteen years ago even if the offender would no longer be in jail if Congress decreed the 2018 amendment is retroactive.

But we do not agree sentencing policy marginalizes judges’ ability to address "other" reasons so long as we are consistent with the Sentencing Commission's policy. We may consider these issues consistent with federal law and policy since December 2018. After the incarcerated person exhausts his request for compassionate release with the Bureau of Prisons, we may apply the same long-established factors determined by the Director of the Bureau to find extraordinary and compelling reasons for compassionate release other than, or in combination with, the three defined grounds. Even if we find other extraordinary and compelling reasons applying the Director of the Bureau's defined factors, the Sentencing Commission directs we carefully apply Congress's defined factors for all sentences and determine whether releasing the incarcerated person creates a danger to others or the community.

After extensive briefing and a hearing where we evaluated witness credibility, we today find sentencing policy warrants granting Samson Adeyemi's motion to modify a formerly statutorily mandated thirty-two year sentence for driving a getaway car after two accomplices robbed Taco Bell's and McDonald's drive-through windows on one January 2006 evening as an immigrant nineteen-year-old pre-med college student with no criminal history. His accomplices committing the robberies pleaded guilty and returned home to their community years ago. Mr. Adeyemi sits working and studying in FCI-Fort Dix suffering from chronic asthma

which cannot be adequately addressed given the COVID-19 outbreak there. As the United States concedes, Mr. Adeyemi is serving a statutory sentence which Congress now defines as excessive. Applying present sentencing policy including applying the factors governing the Director of the Bureau's determination as to "other" reasons in this exceptional case, we today grant compassionate release to Mr. Adeyemi and return him to his community under five years of supervised release.

I. Background

A. Samson Adeyemi's past and future.

1. Mr. Adeyemi had a model childhood before January 3, 2006.

Mr. Adeyemi was born in London, England to parents who emigrated from Nigeria.² Mr. Adeyemi's parents brought him and his three younger sisters to Philadelphia when he was nine years old.³ Mr. Adeyemi's parents and sister describe him as a sweet, kind, and gentle individual.⁴ He was and remains very close to his family:⁵ He used to walk his sister to and from elementary school to keep her safe when she experienced bullying.⁶ Mr. Adeyemi mentored children at the Christ Apostle Church, acted as a counselor at a summer camp, and worked at an Applebee's restaurant.⁷ Mr. Adeyemi has suffered from asthma

since childhood.⁸ Mr. Adeyemi has a family history of severe asthma, including a cousin who died from an asthma attack.⁹ His grandfather also has asthma.¹⁰

As a nineteen-year-old in January 2006, Mr. Adeyemi needed only twenty credits to graduate from Lincoln University with a bachelor's degree in biology.¹¹ He hoped to apply to medical school.¹²

2. Two non-violent hours as a driver in a getaway car on January 3, 2006 leads to a thirty-two-year sentence required by Congress's former sentencing policy.

Mr. Adeyemi's life changed during visits to two fast food restaurants on January 3, 2006. Mr. Adeyemi drove to a Taco Bell, placed an order at the drive-in window, and paid for his food.¹³ He drove off before the cashier turned back to hand him his change.¹⁴ A masked man, holding an inoperable firearm held together by a rubber band,¹⁵ then stood at the take-out window and ordered the cashier to empty the cash register.¹⁶ She gave him $622.¹⁷ Mr. Adeyemi then drove this masked man and another accomplice away.¹⁸ They repeated the same crime approximately two hours later at a McDonald's, stealing $230.21.¹⁹ Mr. Adeyemi did not physically steal the money or brandish the inoperable firearm.²⁰ He ordered and paid for his meals. Neither he, nor his brazen accomplices, physically injured anyone.²¹ But his accomplices’ conduct threatened physical harm and undoubtedly caused mental distress in addition to the fast food chains losing less than $860. And Mr. Adeyemi drove the car allowing his brazen masked accomplices to get away. Mr. Adeyemi had never been arrested before January 3, 2006.²²

A grand jury indicted Mr. Adeyemi's three accomplices for seven robberies, five more than the two where Mr. Adeyemi drove the getaway car.²³ Each of the co-conspirators accepted a plea deal and testified against Mr. Adeyemi at trial, identifying him as the getaway driver in the two robberies.²⁴ Two of the co-conspirators served a 96-month sentence and the Bureau of Prisons released them from prison in 2013, and the third co-conspirator served a 129-month sentence and the Bureau of Prisons released him from prison in 2015.²⁵

Our grand jury also separately indicted Samson Adeyemi for conspiracy to interfere with interstate commerce by robbery, two substantive counts of Hobbs Act robbery of the Taco Bell and McDonald's, two counts of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. section 924(c), and aiding and abetting.²⁶

Mr. Adeyemi chose to seek the jury's verdict rather than pleading guilty. The jury unanimously found Mr. Adeyemi guilty of the charges relating to these two robberies.²⁷ Judge Davis sentenced Mr. Adeyemi to 385 months’ imprisonment, five years of supervised release, and restitution of the stolen funds plus fees for a total $1,003.²⁸ Judge Davis varied downward from the recommended sentencing guidelines of 425 to 435 months imprisonment.²⁹ But Judge Davis had to follow Congress's sentencing policy of a mandatory minimum seven-year sentence for the first possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence under section 924(c) and a mandatory minimum consecutive sentence of twenty-five years for the second section 924(c) crime even though both crimes occurred on the same fated night.³⁰

As counsel before us today concede, Mr. Adeyemi would not face the mandatory consecutive twenty-five-year sentence for a second section 924(c) firearm charge in the same case if before us today. In 2018, Congress amended section 924(c) to ensure the twenty-five year consecutive term for a successive section 924(c) offense does not apply unless the defendant had a previous, final section 924(c) conviction at the time of the offense.³¹ The amendment replaced the phrase "second or subsequent conviction under this subsection" with "violation of this subsection that occurs after a prior conviction under this subsection has become final."³² Congress did not make this amendment retroactive.

3. Mr. Adeyemi's present and future.

Mr. Adeyemi's current release date is May 2, 2034.³³

The Bureau of Prisons currently holds Mr. Adeyemi in custody at the Federal Correctional Institute in Fort Dix, New Jersey ("FCI Fort Dix"). Mr. Adeyemi works as a janitor in the prison.³⁴ He earlier worked for UNICOR, a...