This column reports on several significant representative decisions handed down recently in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Frederic Block granted the motions of two defendants to reduce their sentences under the First Step Act. Judge Eric Komitee relied on the "automobile exception" to the Fourth Amendment and the inevitable discovery doctrine in denying a suppression motion. And Judge Block denied a preliminary injunction requiring the State Liquor Authority to issue a permit to sell alcohol all night on New Year's Eve 2022.

First Step Act

In United States v. Russo, 92 CR 351 (EDNY, Nov. 2, 2022), and United States v. Moore, 90 CR 1063 (EDNY, Nov. 2, 2022), Judge Block granted sentence reductions to two defendants, each of whom had been in prison since the early 1990s, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3582(c)(1)(A), known as the First Step Act or the "compassionate release" statute. Russo was serving a sentence of life plus five years for his role in a murder conspiracy during the Colombo Crime Family War of the early 1990s. Moore had been sentenced to life for his role in a narcotics trafficking ring from approximately 1985 to 1991. The cases were consolidated for the purpose of the opinion.

Under the First Step Act, a court may reduce a previously imposed sentence only "after considering the factors set forth in §3553(a) to the extent that they are applicable, if [the Court] finds that … extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant such a reduction … and that such a reduction is consistent with applicable policy statements issued by the Sentencing Commission." Slip op. 1 (alterations in original). Against the backdrop of defendants' motions, Judge Block identified several extraordinary and compelling factors district courts may consider when exercising their broad discretion in deciding compassionate release motions. Slip op. 8-9.