United States v. Wright
| Decision Date | 29 July 2022 |
| Docket Number | 20-50361 |
| Parties | United States of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Joel Alexander Wright, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
Argued and Submitted December 9, 2021 Pasadena, California
Amended August 29, 2022
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, D.C. Nos. 3:16-cr-00354-DMS-1 3:16-cr-00354-DMS Dana M. Sabraw, Chief District Judge Presiding
Jessica Agatstein (argued) and Katie Hurrelbrink, Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc., San Diego, California, for Defendant-Appellant.
Joseph S. Green (argued), Assistant United States Attorney; Daniel E. Zipp, Chief, Appellate Section, Criminal Division; Randy S. Grossman, Acting United States Attorney; United States Attorney's Office, San Diego, California; for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Before: Marsha S. Berzon and Carlos T. Bea, Circuit Judges, and Richard D. Bennett, [*] District Judge.
The panel amended an opinion filed July 29, 2022, affirming the district court's denial of Joel Alexander Wright's motion for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) in which Wright requested a reduction to time served and immediate release, or, in the alternative, home detention for the balance of his sentence.
The panel amended the opinion to clarify that its holding applies equally to district court decisions that predate and postdate United States v. Aruda, 993 F.3d 797 (9th Cir. 2021) (per curiam).
Wright contended that the district court abused its discretion by denying his motion based on the dangerousness finding imposed by U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13. In Aruda, this Court held that the current version of § 1B1.13 is not an applicable policy statement for § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) motions filed by a defendant. Following Aruda, while the Sentencing Commission's statements in § 1B1.13 may inform a district court's discretion for § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i) motions filed by a defendant, they cannot be treated as binding constraints on the court's analysis. Here, the district court did precisely what Aruda proscribes: it denied Wright's motion by holding that he failed to demonstrate that he is "not a danger to others or [to] the community" pursuant to § 1B1.13. The panel wrote that this holding is an abuse of discretion.
The panel held that Aruda error is harmless if the court properly relied on 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors as an alternative basis for its denial of a compassionate release motion, as the district court did here when it held in the alternative that the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors weighed "squarely against" granting Wright's compassionate release motion. The panel wrote that although Wright may take issue with the balance the court struck, mere disagreement with the weight of these factors does not amount to an abuse of discretion. The panel therefore held that the district court's reliance on § 1B1.13 was harmless error.
Wright also contended that the district court abused its discretion by failing to respond to his alternative request to serve the rest of his sentence under home confinement. The panel held that the district court adequately addressed that request, as Wright did not adduce any evidence or advance any arguments in support of it, which rested on the same legal and factual foundation as his request for a time-served sentence. Given the arguments made and the judge's knowledge of the record, the panel was satisfied that the judge adequately considered Wright's motion and had a reasoned basis for exercising his own legal decision-making authority.
The opinion filed July 29, 2022, is amended by the opinion filed concurrently with this order. These amendments clarify that our holding applies equally to district court decisions that predate and postdate United States v. Aruda, 993 F.3d 797 (9th Cir. 2021) (per curiam).
No future petitions for rehearing or rehearing en banc will be entertained. The mandate issued on August 22, 2022, remains in effect.
After pleading guilty in 2016 to the attempted enticement of a minor, Joel Alexander Wright was sentenced to 188 months' imprisonment followed by lifetime supervised release. After serving about five years of that sentence, Wright petitioned for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), requesting a sentence reduction to time served and immediate release, or, in the alternative, home detention for the balance of his sentence. After reviewing Wright's motion and his briefings, the district court denied this motion. On appeal, Wright contends the court abused its discretion by denying his motion based on the dangerousness finding imposed by U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13, and by declining to consider his alternative request to serve the rest of his sentence under home confinement.
We affirm the holding of the district court as to both issues. We have recently held that a district court abuses its discretion by construing the U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13 policy statement as binding. See United States v. Aruda, 993 F.3d 797, 799, 802 (9th Cir. 2021) (per curiam).[1] Nevertheless, any error by the district court here in relying on § 1B1.13 was harmless in light of the court's alternative holding under the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors. Additionally, as Wright did not adduce any evidence or advance any arguments in support of his alternative request for home confinement, the district court adequately addressed that request.
BACKGROUND[2]
In January 2016, Wright was arrested at the San Diego Airport for the attempted enticement of a minor and related charges. In April 2016, Wright waived indictment and pleaded guilty to violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b). During his sentencing in July 2016, defense counsel recommended the statutory mandatory minimum 120 months' imprisonment, while the Government requested 168 months. Defense counsel spoke to the unusual hardships Wright would experience in custody, and argued that "the reality of supervision, combined with his disabilities . . . should speak somewhat to the court's legitimate concern for incapacitation." The Government highlighted the very serious nature of Wright's offenses and noted that he had made "a sophisticated attempt" to commit them "despite all of his physical struggles."
On balance, the district court found that the facts of Wright's case were "most deserving of punishment for punishment's sake alone, and most deserving of imposing a sentence that will protect society." The court recognized that Wright's "overwhelmingly positive" personal history and characteristics-including his family support, his faith, and his remorse-counselled mitigation. Nevertheless, the Court noted that Wright had "continued to pursue this activity" despite his "remorse and misgivings," and notwithstanding his physical disabilities. Accordingly, commensurate with the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines, and the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors, the court sentenced Wright to 188 months' imprisonment followed by a lifetime period of supervised release. Wright is housed at the Federal Correctional Institution ("FCI") Danbury, Connecticut, and is projected to be released in June of 2029.
Wright has struggled with disabilities throughout his life. Although Wright received some treatment in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, his health continued to decline.
In September 2020, Wright filed a motion for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), pursuant to the First Step Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-391, 132 Stat. 5194. Through this motion, Wright requested a reduced sentence of time served, and argued in the alternative that his sentence "be modified to allow him to serve the rest of his sentence under home confinement as a condition of supervised release." At the time of this motion, Wright had served about five years of his 188-month sentence, with approximately ten years remaining. In support of his request for a time-served sentence, Wright argued that his medical conditions rendered him particularly susceptible to COVID-19 and that the prisons were not equipped to protect him from the spread of the virus. In addition, Wright argued that the prison's COVID-19 lockdown protocols had prevented him from receiving the assistance he requires due to his disabilities.
Although Wright argued in favor of a time served sentence, he provided no additional arguments to support his alternative request for home confinement. Home confinement was mentioned in passing throughout the body of the motion, and Wright concluded by "respectfully request[ing] that the Court grant a reduction in his sentence to time served with a condition of home detention for the rest of his sentence," but he failed entirely to discuss why this request was appropriate. Nowhere in the motion was there any discussion of the specific conditions to be imposed, how such conditions would suffice to protect the public and prevent Wright from reoffending, or why such conditions would amount to just punishment in this case.
The district court denied Wright's motion on December 21 2020. Declining to address whether Wright's medical conditions constitute "extraordinary and compelling" reasons for a sentence reduction, the court found that the U.S.S.G. § 1B1.13 policy statement and the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) sentencing factors weighed against a sentence reduction. Under § 1B1.13, the court found Wright had failed to show that he was "not a danger to others or the community" given "the disturbing nature of Defendant's crime" and the fact that he had committed it while he "was already" suffering from the same disabilities. Under § 3553(a), the court reiterated its concerns about...
To continue reading
Request your trial