United States v. Jacobs

• Decision Date: 02 July 2020
• Docket Number: 4:19-CR-00149
• Citation: 470 F.Supp.3d 969
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. James Aaron JACOBS, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Iowa

470 F.Supp.3d 969

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff,

v.James Aaron JACOBS, Defendant.

4:19-CR-00149

United States District Court, S.D. Iowa.

Signed July 2, 2020

Mallory Elizabeth Weiser, United States Attorney's Office, Des Moines, IA, for Plaintiff.

Melanie S. Keiper, B. John Burns (Former), III, Federal Public Defenders Office, Des Moines, IA, for Defendant.

ORDER GRANTING COMPASSIONATE RELEASE

ROBERT W. PRATT, Judge

Before the Court is Defendant James Aaron Jacobs's Motion for Compassionate Release, filed on June 9, 2020. ECF No. 76. The Government filed its Resistance on June 19. ECF No. 81. Defendant replied on June 26. ECF No. 82. The matter is fully submitted.

I. BACKGROUND

On September 11, 2019, the Government charged Defendant in a one-count indictment with being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). ECF No. 24. In short, police had obtained a warrant to search his home, in which they found a handgun and methamphetamine packaging materials. ECF No. 67 ¶ 9.

Defendant, now forty-two years old, has a long and diverse record of convictions going back to age nineteen. Id. ¶¶ 27–44. These convictions include underage drinking, domestic violence, theft, and drug possession. Id. ¶¶ 27–44. He also has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder

, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Id. ¶¶ 72.

These histories appear at least somewhat intertwined. Defendant pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2000 following a drunk-driving accident. Id. ¶ 30. The accident killed Defendant's best friend. See id. ¶ 74; ECF No. 79 at 13:1–5. Defendant states he has "not been able to get past it for [twenty] years" and did not attempt therapy to address the matter until 2019. ECF No. 79 at 7:13, 13:1–5.

Also since age nineteen, Defendant has consumed alcohol daily but for periods of incarceration. ECF No. 67 ¶ 75. At age fifteen, the defendant first used methamphetamine. This progressed to using each weekend, which then progressed to using daily. Id. ¶ 76. He once had a cocaine habit, too. Id. ¶ 77. Although Defendant may be new to mental-health therapy, he has repeatedly attempted, and failed at, substance-abuse treatment. Id. ¶¶ 81–83.

Defendant meanwhile has held various jobs as an electrician, work he believes he could obtain again should he be released. Id. ¶¶ 91–94.

Defendant pleaded guilty on January 15, 2020. ECF No. 57. In between Defendant's guilty plea and May sentencing, a global pandemic began. With the Southern District of Iowa then all-but closed to in-person hearings, Defendant consented to sentencing via Zoom, a now-omnipresent video conferencing program. ECF No. 71. The Court sentenced Defendant to twenty-four months imprisonment, ECF No. 73, a clock that started running August 16, 2019, see ECF No. 67 ¶ 90. Considering time credits, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) predicts his sentence will be fulfilled on April 28, 2021. Find an Inmate , Fed. Bureau Prisons, https://www.bop.gov/inmateloc/ (last visited June 30, 2020).

At sentencing, Defendant's counsel stated he felt very ill. ECF No. 70 at 9:21–22 ("Today he indicated he's never felt this bad in his life."). The Court stated that if Defendant had such complaints, "they ought to be treated" by the Polk County Jail. ECF No. 79 at 16:1.

This did not occur. Defendant tested positive for COVID-19 a week later following repeated requests. ECF No. 76 at 1. Beyond that, Defendant's treatment has consisted of Tylenol

and sequestration in a part of the jail reserved for infected inmates. Id. at 16; ECF No. 82 at 4. Defendant has been symptomatic for more than a month. ECF No. 82 at 4. He continues to report various aches that keep him up at night. Id. When he mentioned these symptoms to a nurse, he was given antibiotics, which did not help. Id. He continues to test positive for the virus. Id.

COVID-19 has killed more than 126,000 Americans and infected more than 2.6 million in a few months. Mortality Analysis , Johns Hopkins U. & Med. (June 30, 2020, 5:41 AM), https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality. "At this time, there is no known cure, no effective treatment, and no vaccine. Because people may be infected but asymptomatic, they may unwittingly infect others." S. Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom , ––– U.S. ––––, 140 S. Ct. 1613, ––– L.Ed.2d –––– (2020) (Roberts, C.J., concurring).

We limited access to courts, schools, churches, theaters, and "non-essential" businesses—places where there are too many people and too little space to keep the virus from spreading. That also sounds a lot like jail and prison. Already "tinderboxes for infectious disease," jails and prisons now are even more dangerous than we typically accept. United States v. Rodriguez , No. 2:03-CR-00271-AB-1, 451 F.Supp.3d 392, 393–94, (E.D. Pa. Apr. 1, 2020).

The situation is particularly dire at county jails, some of which hold federal prisoners who have been sentenced but not yet transferred to a federal prison. Jails—where prisoners come and go with more frequency than in prisons—are responsible for some of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in America. Coronavirus in the U.S.: Latest Map and Case Count , N.Y. Times (June 30, 8:00 AM), https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html. By one count, American jails and prisons account for the deaths of 657 inmates and correctional workers. Id.

Defendant's facility, Polk County Jail, is no exception. See id. (showing 128 cases linked to Polk County Jail); see also Philip Joens & Tyler J. Davis, 89 inmates, 9 staff members at Polk County Jail have tested positive for COVID-19 , Des Moines Register (May 22, 2020, 4:41 PM), https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2020/05/22/covid-19-iowa-coronavirus-at-polk-county-jail-89-inmates-nine-staff-test-positve/5242940002/. As of June 30, positive cases had declined to nineteen inmates and two employees. COVID-19 Quick Stats , Polk County Sheriff (June 30, 2020), https://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/county-sheriff/news-press-releases/covid-19-quick-stats/.

These numbers are particularly concerning because federal prisoners are now being forced to remain within local jails seemingly indefinitely after sentencing. The BOP has delayed its intake of recently sentenced defendants from local facilities to combat the pandemic. See ECF No. 81 at 6; BOP Implementing Modified Operations , Fed. Bureau Prisons, https://www.bop.gov/coronavirus/covid19_status.jsp (last visited June 30, 2020).

The BOP, county jails, and state prisons indeed face a daunting task. The Government represents the Polk County Jail has taken numerous mitigation measures, including screening for known symptoms, temperature checks, extra cleanings, and quarantining of infected and vulnerable inmates. ECF No. 81 at 6–7.

Defendant disputes the extent to which the Polk County Jail follows these procedures. ECF No. 82 at 1–3. It also is unclear to what extent this list reflects the Jail's current policies. For instance, the Government represents that zero inmates have tested positive. ECF No. 82 at 6. That simply is not so, and the Government knows it. The Federal Public Defender (FPD) also represents that inmates have been using the same, unwashed, cloth masks for months. Id. at 5.

II. ANALYSIS

The First Step Act of 2018 amended numerous provisions of the U.S. Code to promote rehabilitation of prisoners and unwind decades of mass incarceration. Cong. Research Serv., R45558, The First Step Act of 2018: An Overview 1 (2019). Congress designed the statute at issue here, § 3582(c)(1)(A), for "Increasing the Use and Transparency of Compassionate Release." § 603(b), 132 Stat. at 5239. This provision allows defendants, for the first time, to petition district courts directly for compassionate release. Id. Under the old regime, defendants could petition only the BOP Director, who could then make a motion, at his or her discretion, to the district court. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 1B1.13 cmt. n.4 (U.S. Sentencing Comm'n 2018) [hereinafter U.S.S.G.]. The Director rarely did so. Hearing on Compassionate Release and the Conditions of Supervision Before the U.S. Sentencing Comm'n (2016) (statement of Michael E. Horowitz, Inspector General, Dep't of Justice).

A. Exhaustion

The First Step Act's gate-keeping provision created two ways for a defendant to bring a compassionate release motion to a district court. The defendant may file a motion after he "has fully exhausted all administrative rights to appeal a failure of the [BOP] to bring a motion on the defendant's behalf or the lapse of 30 days from the receipt of such a request by the warden of the defendant's facility, whichever is earlier." § 3582(c)(1)(A).

Here, the Government acknowledges the Defendant need not satisfy the statute's gatekeeping function because it would be impossible to do so. ECF No. 81 at 3 (collecting cases). Defendant is not in a BOP facility, and thus, cannot petition the BOP for his release. See id. And because § 3582(c)(1)(A)'s gatekeeping requirement is a non-jurisdictional claim-processing rule, the Government can waive its requirements. United States v. Alam , 960 F.3d 831, 834 (6th Cir. 2020). The Government has made such a waiver, and the Court will address the merits.

B. Extraordinary and Compelling Reasons

Compassionate release provides a path for defendants with "extraordinary and compelling reasons" to leave prison early. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i). Such a sentence reduction must comply with the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors and "applicable policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission." § 3582(c)(1)(A).

1. Definitions

Congress never defined what constitutes "extraordinary and compelling." See 28 U.S.C. § 994(t). Instead, Congress directed the Sentencing Commission to promulgate "the criteria to be applied and a list of specific" extraordinary and compelling examples. Id. Before the First Step Act, the Commission provided just three: terminal illness, an elderly inmate's rapidly declining health, and care for...