United States v. Female

Citation581 F.Supp.3d 482
Decision Date26 January 2022
Docket Number19-CR-431 (JFB)
Parties UNITED STATES of America, v. Juvenile FEMALE, Defendant.
CourtUnited States District Courts. 2nd Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of New York)

The United States is represented by Breon S. Peace, U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of New York, 610 Federal Plaza, Central Islip, New York 11722, by Paul G. Scotti and Justina L. Geraci, Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and Kathleen Kearson, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Defendant Juvenile Female is represented by Zachary S. Taylor, Taylor & Cohen LLP, 305 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, New York 10007.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Joseph F. Bianco, Circuit Judge

On September 20, 2019, the government filed a Juvenile Information against defendant Juvenile Female ("the defendant"),1 charging her with the following: one count of racketeering, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962(c), 1963, 5032 et seq. ; one count of racketeering conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1962(d), 1963, 5032 et seq. ; two counts of conspiracy to murder alleged rival gang members in aid of racketeering, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1959(a)(5), 5032 et seq. ; one count of murder in aid of racketeering, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 1959(a)(1), 5032 et seq. ; one count of brandishing and discharging a firearm during a murder, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2, 924(c)(1)(A)(i)(iii), 5032 et seq. ; and one count of causing the death of another individual through use of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. § 2, 924(j)(1), 5032 et seq. These charges relate to the defendant's alleged participation, as an associate of La Mara Salvatrucha, a violent street gang also known as MS-13, in a conspiracy to murder two juveniles—John Doe #1 and Jasson Medrano-Molina—between July 2019 and August 2019, as well as the murder of Medrano-Molina on August 7, 2019, in a wooded area behind a temple located in Central Islip, New York.

Before the Court is the government's motion under 18 U.S.C. § 5032 to transfer the case to district court in order to prosecute the defendant as an adult. On December 14, 2021, after receiving written submissions from the parties, the Court held an evidentiary hearing on the motion. This Memorandum and Order contains the Court's findings under 18 U.S.C. § 5032.

As discussed in great detail below, after carefully analyzing the required statutory factors, the Court concludes in its discretion that the government in this case has rebutted the statutory presumption in favor of juvenile adjudication, and met its burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant's transfer to adult status is warranted.

First, the nature of the alleged offenses overwhelmingly favors, in the interest of justice, transferring the case to district court to try the defendant as an adult. As detailed below, the defendant is charged, inter alia , with actively participating in a conspiracy to murder two fifteen-year-old alleged rival gang members, and with participating in the murder of one of those individuals (Medrano-Molina), in aid of the MS-13 gang. More specifically, the defendant is alleged to have engaged in the following conduct with respect to the charged offenses: (1) instigating the conspiracy to murder Medrano-Molina and the other individual (John Doe #1) by informing her ex-boyfriend, a member of MS-13, that these individuals were, among other persons, members of the rival 18th Street gang; (2) devising a plan with her ex-boyfriend and other MS-13 members to lure John Doe #1 and Medrano-Molina to a secluded area where MS-13 members were waiting to kill them; and (3) facilitating the aforementioned plan by using her friendship with Medrano-Molina to lure him to a designated location where MS-13 members were waiting to murder him, and where Medrano-Molina was then murdered. Thus, the Court finds that the extremely violent nature of the alleged murder, and the defendant's alleged active participation in the murder plan over several weeks, is entitled to special weight in this case.

The defendant's age and social background also favor transfer. The defendant was weeks away from her seventeenth birthday when she allegedly instigated the conspiracy to murder John Doe #1 and Medrano-Molina, and just five days away from her seventeenth birthday when she allegedly participated in the murder of Medrano-Molina. She is now over eighteen years old.

As for the defendant's social background, the defendant experienced extreme physical and sexual abuse in El Salvador before coming to the United States to be with her mother, leading to the defendant's diagnosis of cannabis use disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder

("PTSD"). Although her mother was willing and able to provide her with a loving and supportive home when the defendant arrived in the United States, the defendant continued to feel distrust towards her mother due to her PTSD, childhood traumas, and abandonment issues. Indeed, prior to the alleged offenses and shortly before her detention, the defendant dropped out of school and left her mother's house to live with her MS-13-affiliated boyfriend. The defendant allegedly even went so far as to aid the gang by attempting to obstruct justice after the murder. In short, despite family support, her ties to the MS-13 gang, and loyalty to that gang, appear to have been very strong. Moreover, as discussed infra , she has never denounced the MS-13 gang, nor her association with the gang, during her rehabilitation efforts. Thus, although recognizing that the extreme abuse that she suffered in El Salvador has resulted in complex PTSD, the Court finds that her age, social background, and history with the MS-13 gang favor transferring her to adult status.

The defendant's lack of a juvenile record weighs against transfer, but as explained below, the Court finds that, in the instant case, after balancing all the statutory factors (including this one), transfer is in the interest of justice.

Next, as for the defendant's present intellectual development and psychological maturity, the Court finds this factor to be neutral. As to her intellectual development, the defendant's transcripts from Central Islip High School and Sojourn High School (the educational program at the juvenile detention facility where the defendant is housed), both indicate strong intellectual and cognitive skills. Therefore, the defendant clearly had the intellectual functioning, as a juvenile, to understand the violent nature of the MS-13 gang, and the dire harm to others that would result from her alleged participation in the gang's conduct. Indeed, she acknowledged in her psychological examination that she had been exposed to the gang from early childhood in El Salvador and knew that it was dangerous.

Regarding her psychological maturity, the psychological examination of the defendant, conducted by the defense expert Dr. Eric Goldsmith, indicates that she suffers from complex PTSD2 and cannabis use disorder. Dr. Goldsmith testified that the defendant's psychological maturity has been greatly impacted by her traumas, resulting in her inability to trust others or form real emotional connections, and in her view of herself as a "monster" who victimizes others. Thus, despite strong cognitive and intellectual skills, the defendant has significant delays in developmental maturity. On balance, this factor neither favors nor disfavors transfer.

The next factor—the nature of past treatment efforts and the defendant's response to those efforts to date—weighs in favor of transfer. Although the defendant did not receive any meaningful treatment or rehabilitative efforts prior to her incarceration on the instant charges, the treatment efforts to date do not show any likelihood that she will be successfully rehabilitated within the juvenile system. The defendant was briefly seeing a psychologist at the Essex County facility, but has refused to continue with such treatment, citing a lack of trust, She has received no other treatment for her PTSD. Additionally, the defendant has committed two disciplinary infractions during her detention: one fight and one possession of contraband items including a shank. Based upon this record, it is clear that the defendant's rehabilitation efforts are at their beginning stages, and that there are signs that she is resisting such efforts.

As for the last factor, availability of programs designed to treat the defendant's behavioral problems, there is some indication that facilities in Pennsylvania and Maine, and potentially South Dakota and Texas, would be available to the defendant if she is found guilty as a juvenile. Accordingly, this factor weighs against transfer.

Although some factors weigh against transfer, they do not outweigh the others that, in combination, overwhelmingly favor transfer. In particular, the violent and brutal nature of the alleged murder, including the defendant's alleged active participation in the murder and obstruction of justice in connection therewith, the defendant's age and social background, and the fact that the defendant is only at the beginning stages of any successful rehabilitation efforts, together overwhelmingly demonstrate that transfer is warranted in the interest of justice.

As the Second Circuit has emphasized, "the goal of rehabilitation must be balanced against ‘the threat to society posed by juvenile crime.’ " United States v. Nelson , 90 F.3d 636, 640 (2d Cir. 1996) (quoting United States v. J.D. , 525 F. Supp. 101, 103 (S.D.N.Y. 1981) ). The Sixth Circuit has similarly reasoned that "a motion to transfer is properly granted where a court determines that the risk of harm to society posed by affording the defendant more lenient treatment within the juvenile justice system outweighs the defendant's chance for rehabilitation." United States v. T.F.F. , A Juvenile Male , 55 F.3d 1118, 1121 (6th Cir. 1995) (quoting United States v. One Juvenile Male , 40 F.3d 841, 844 (6th Cir. 1994) ). Here, with respect to this defendant, the Court concludes that there is no likelihood that the goals of the juvenile system will be achieved while the defendant is in...

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  • United States v. Male
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of New York
    • July 6, 2022
    ...to adult status for their alleged participation in violent acts in connection with the MS-13 gang. See, e.g. , United States v. Juvenile Female , 581 F.Supp.3d 482 (E.D.N.Y. 2022) (defendant was just under 17 at time of, inter alia , the alleged brutal, premeditated murder of a suspected ga......

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