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 Raymond J. Dearie found “extraordinary and compelling reasons” to grant compassionate release under the First Step Act, based on old and new events in a decades-old case. Judge Eric N. Vitaliano, assessing the defendant’s medical condition and his criminal record, denied compassionate release under the First Step Act. And Judge Pamela K. Chen held that a tenancy by the entirety of a husband and wife, and the wife’s right of survivorship, were destroyed by fraud.

  • Compassionate Relief Granted Under The First Step Act

In a bracing 36-page opinion, Dearie granted compassionate relief under the First Step Act to Kevin Haynes, reducing his 46-year sentence for bank robbery to the 27 years already served.  United States v. Haynes, 93 CR 1043 (EDNY, April 22, 2020).