The Sixth Circuit yesterday handed down a notable split panel opinion reversing the grant of compassionate release to a defendant who had been serving a life without parole sentence in US v. Bass, No. 21-1094 (6th Cir. Nov. 3, 2021) (available here). Here i how the majority opinion gets started:
In 2003, John Bass, a local drug kingpin in the state of Michigan, was convicted of murdering a hitman whom Bass had hired to kill Bass’s half-brother. Though the Government sought the death penalty, Bass was ultimately sentenced to two concurrent terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of release. In 2020, Bass moved for compassionate release due to COVID-19. The district court granted Bass’s request in January 2021 and ordered his immediate release. In March, a divided panel of this court granted the Government’s emergency motion to stay the release. In this merits appeal, the Government argues that the district court abused its discretion when it granted Bass’s request for immediate release. Because the district court’s decision rested upon legal errors, its decision to release Bass constituted an abuse of its discretion. On remand, moreover, the district court must reevaluate the compassionate release request based on current facts and circumstances, which have materially changed.
The “legal errors” identified by the majority relate largely to how the district court framed and balanced various 3553(a) factors, but the seriousness of the crime seems to be driving much of the analysis:
The district court also reasoned that, balancing Bass’s crimes “with the circumstances under which they were committed,” his...
