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Ninth Circuit Denies Compassionate Release to Man Convicted of Sex Trafficking Minor
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A man convicted in 2017 of sex trafficking a minor and sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison on Wednesday lost his bid in the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for reversal of a District Court order denying him compassionate release.
The order was made by Judge Troy L. Nunley of the Eastern District of California and affirmed in a memorandum opinion by Ninth Circuit Judge Kim Wardlaw and Senior Circuit Judges Barry G. Silverman and Richard C. Tallman.
In his Feb. 23 order, Nunley made note that Holmes has drawn discipline while in prison for assault and abusing phone and mail privileges, resulting in a loss of 81 days good conduct credit. He commented that this “undermines Defendant’s claim that he is fully rehabilitated.”
Nunley’s Conclusion
The judge declared:
“The Court agrees with the Government that Defendant has not established extraordinary and compelling reasons for release. While the Court commends Defendant for the positive steps he has taken while in prison, he fails to persuade the Court that his rehabilitation efforts warrant a sentence reduction. As for his concerns about COVID-19, Defendant only raises general concerns about COVID-19—not any specific concerns based on his own medical conditions. It also bears mentioning that there are currently zero active cases of COVID-19 at Defendant’s facility….For all these reasons, the Court concludes there are no extraordinary and compelling reasons for Defendant’s release.”
Nunley also denied a sentence reduction, saying:
“Based on Defendant’s lengthy criminal history and the serious nature and circumstances of the instant offense, Defendant has not shown the [statutory] factors support any sentence reduction from his well-supported, low-end, 188-month term of imprisonment.”
Ninth Circuit Opinion
The Ninth Circuit’s opinion says:
“The record does not support Holmes’s contentions. The court considered all of Holmes’s arguments for release and specifically commended his rehabilitative efforts. It concluded, however, that other factors—including, but not limited to, Holmes’s disciplinary violations—demonstrated that he lacked extraordinary and compelling reasons for release.”
At the time of sentencing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California said in a statement:
“According to court documents, from July 16, 2014, until September 4, 2015, Holmes recruited a 15-year-old runaway girl to engage in commercial sex acts with men for his financial benefit. Holmes transported her to multiple locations and collected the money that she earned. In July 2014, police officers found the girl and returned her to her mother. Nonetheless, Holmes continued to pressure the victim work for him, even while he was incarcerated on other charges. He wrote to her from jail and threatened that ‘there would be consequences’ if she did not continue to make money for him.”
Holmes’s projected release date is Oct. 12, 2028.
The case is United States v. Holmes, 23-420.
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