MEMORANDUM AND ORDER Petitioner James Anderson, who has served about 17 years of a 27-year sentence for armed robbery, filed the instant motion pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3582(c)(1)(A) seeking immediate release due to the risks to defendant should he contract COVID in light of underlying medical issues. For many reasons, including the fact that defendant has been vaccinated against the disease, the COVID-based application for immediate release proves unpersuasive. In the alternative, defendant seeks sentence reduction under §3582(c)(1)(A) due to a panoply of medical conditions, most of which arose after his sentencing, and the concomitant reduced chance of recidivism by defendant. This portion of the application raises a far more challenging question: does this case, in which the record reveals that defendant’s sentence was based exclusively on defendant’s potential dangerousness, and that danger has been abated by intervening, serious medical issues, present extraordinary and compelling circumstances warranting a sentencing reduction? Finding that it does, and after considering the relevant §3553(a) factors, the Court reduces the defendant’s sentence from 327 to 262 months. Thus, for the reasons set forth herein, the application for immediate release is DENIED, but his application for a sentence reduction is GRANTED. Relevant Facts and Procedural History This matter, originally before the Honorable Sandra J. Feuerstein, was reassigned to the undersigned following Judge Feuerstein’s passing. The Government provided the following summary of the underlying offense conduct and the resulting charges, which are not in dispute: On May 25, 2005, a grand jury sitting in the Eastern District of New York returned a two-count indictment, charging the defendant with the Hobbs Act robbery of the King Kullen grocery store located at 795 Old Country Road, Riverhead, New York (“King Kullen”) and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of that crime, and an arrest warrant was issued for the defendant. See ECF Docket No. 1 (Indictment). As set forth in the PSR, on September 21, 2004, the defendant, who was armed with a semi-automatic handgun and displayed what appeared to be a bomb, robbed the King Kullen. PSR at 4. Specifically, the robbery took place after the defendant entered the King Kullen, approached the store manager, pointed a handgun at him, and forced him to bring him to the store safe. Id. Once at the safe, the defendant opened a bag and displayed what appeared to be an explosive device. Id. The defendant then emptied the safe of bags of money, which he put into a garbage bag, and fled the King Kullen. Id. Subsequent investigation determined that the defendant stole approximately $5,550.03. Id. Thereafter, on May 3, 2007, the grand jury returned a Superseding Indictment, which added armed Hobbs Act robbery, firearms and carjacking charges against the defendant in connection with the armed robbery of the McDonald’s Restaurant in Riverhead, New York. See ECF Docket No. 42 (Superseding Indictment). As set forth in the PSR, on November 16, 2003, the defendant accosted the restaurant manager and two employees after they closed the restaurant for the night and were walking to a vehicle. PSR at 3. The defendant approached, pointing a handgun at the employees, and forced them back into the restaurant. Id. Once inside, the defendant ordered the manager to open the safe and give him all the money inside. Id. The manager complied and gave the defendant the contents of the safe, approximately $2,182. Id. The defendant fled and drove away in the manager’s vehicle. Id. DE 96 at 1-2. At the time of the instant offenses, defendant was on state parole for a knife-point robbery of a clothing store and a gunpoint robbery of another McDonald’s restaurant. PSR at
