United States v. Trimm

450 F.Supp.3d 195

UNITED STATES of America,

v.Hillary TRIMM, Defendant.

8:17-CR-90

United States District Court, N.D. New York.

Signed March 26, 2020

LISA M. FLETCHER, ESQ., Ass't United States Attorney, HON. GRANT C. JAQUITH, United States Attorney for the, Northern District of New York, P.O. Box 7198, 100 South Clinton Street, Syracuse, NY 13261.

GEORGE F. HILDEBRANDT, ESQ., OFFICE OF GEORGE F. HILDEBRANDT, Attorney for Defendant, 300 Crown Building, 304 South Franklin Street, Syracuse, NY 13202.

MEMORANDUM–DECISION and ORDER

DAVID N. HURD, United States District Judge

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I INTRODUCTION ... 198

II. BACKGROUND ... 198

A. Hillary Trimm ... 198

B. Criminal Investigation and Charges ... 200

C. Plea and Cooperation Agreements ... 201

D. Subsequent Cooperation and Proceedings ... 202

E. Sentencing ... 204

F. Appeal and Subsequent Proceedings ... 206

III. DISCUSSION ... 206

A. Relevant Legal Background ... 206

B. The Instant Cooperation Agreement ... 208

C. Trimm's Challenge ... 209

1. Constitutional Claim ... 210

2. Contractual Claim ... 215

a. Dissatisfaction with a defendant's efforts ... 217

b. A defendant's breach of an agreement ... 224

IV. CONCLUSION ... 229

I. INTRODUCTION

"The prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. His discretion is tremendous." 24 J. Am. Jud. Soc'y 18 (1940), 31 J. Crim. L. 3 (1940) (Justice Robert H. Jackson address at Conference of United States Attorneys, Washington, D.C., April 1, 1940).

But that discretion is not unfettered, particularly when exercised in the face of a plea and/or cooperation agreement. Judicial review exists to ensure the United States of America has lived up to its end of the bargain. This Court must scrutinize whether the United States of America did, or did not do so in this case.

At issue is the extent to which federal prosecutors may move for a downward departure under United States Sentencing Guidelines ("U.S.S.G.") § 5K1.1 ("5K1.1") but not 18 U.S.C. § 3553(e) (" § 3553(e)") where it is uncontroverted that the defendant provided substantial assistance to authorities.

II. BACKGROUND

A. Hillary Trimm ¹

Hillary Trimm ("defendant" or "Trimm"), age 26 at the time of her initial sentencing, was born in Massena, New York. Her parents separated before she was born and she was raised by her mother and step-father. She has one maternal half sibling, and no relationship with her father or his three daughters. She was described as never being in trouble and was raised in an extended family surrounded by children. Trimm herself has three daughters, giving birth to the first when she was 23. All three of Trimm's daughters now reside with her mother since the time of her incarceration.

Trimm graduated in June 2009 from Massena Central High School. From the time of her high school graduation through 2016, she was employed at various points as a part-time cashier at Stewart's Shop and TJ Maxx, as well as Walmart, McDonald's, and a gas station. She was unemployed at the time of her arrest in March 2017. She has been described as an impulsive decision maker with low self-esteem because her older sister was favored by her maternal grandmother, who in turn, did not treat the defendant very well. She self-identifies a history of social rejection, discouragement, negative self-concept, and low self-esteem.

Trimm compensated for her low self-worth by looking for love in a series of bad relationships. She has a history of quickly getting caught up in these relationships and does not know how to get out of them. Over the years, she asked her mother for help getting out of relationships while other times she refused help. Trimm's mother first rescued her from a relationship with the father of her first child, who was allegedly controlling and had mental health issues. Trimm did not want her unborn child to grow up in this environment so her mother helped her move out of his apartment and helped her get her own apartment.

Soon after, Trimm connected with Stacey J. LaPorte, Jr. ("LaPorte"). She and LaPorte were prior acquaintances, but became re-connected in 2015, when they both worked at the Massena Walmart along with Mackenzie L. Bailey ("Bailey"). LaPorte contacted Trimm through Bailey's Facebook account and said he wanted to engage in sexual relations with she and Bailey. A few nights later Trimm and LaPorte started a sexual relationship. She has asserted that LaPorte knew how to play a vulnerable single mother well.

LaPorte and Bailey lived together while Trimm lived at a separate location with her daughter. Although she was involved in an abusive domestic relationship in the past, Trimm did not initially recognize LaPorte as a sexual predator, and then felt powerless to resist his forceful threats. According to Trimm, she was voluntarily with LaPorte for a few months, but trapped by him for a year. He emotionally and physically controlled her throughout their relationship, and threatened physical harm to her if she tried to leave or refused to participate in abusing an infant female child ("V-4"). She said she endured endless threats to the child's life and her own if his demands were not met, and repeated physical abuse if she refused.

According to Trimm, LaPorte told her that he had family connections on the Akwesasne Mohawk Reservation who would kill her, the child, and members of her family if she refused to allow and participate in abusing V-4. LaPorte used the same kind of psychological manipulation with her that he used in getting her to be complicit in abusing V-4; he would threaten harm to himself, Trimm, or Bailey, and would verbally denigrate them.

When Trimm began to have second thoughts about the abuse, showing resistance, and experiencing remorse, LaPorte increasingly voiced threats and promises of physical harm. She did not attempt to leave the relationship because she felt helpless, believed she could not escape, and believed that LaPorte would retaliate with violence and homicide. Ultimately, Trimm allowed herself to be maneuvered into a dangerously compromised situation and was not strong enough emotionally to make good decisions on behalf of the child.

As Trimm's relationship with LaPorte went on, her mother noticed changes in her and in the child, including that the baby was not well cared for. Eventually, Trimm's mother removed the child from the living situation. Trimm showed up the next day at her mother's, entered her house, fell to the ground, and cried. She stated she did not want to go back to LaPorte, but did not know how to get away from him. Her mother then walked outside and told LaPorte to go home and that her daughter would not be returning. Thereafter, Trimm gave birth to LaPorte's baby and lived with her mother until the instant offense came to light and she was ordered to stay away from her children in June 2016.

B. Criminal Investigation and Charges

During the investigation of rape allegations made by two separate teens against LaPorte, investigators uncovered evidence that LaPorte was a serial sex offender, with numerous child victims. The investigation included interviews with women who had relationships with LaPorte, including Bailey and Trimm.

In an interview on June 10, 2016, Trimm provided a five page written statement admitting that she allowed LaPorte to sexually abuse V-4. According to Trimm, she relented to LaPorte's persistent requests that she allow him to have sexual contact with V-4. According to Trimm, she did not want to do it, but gave in because on multiple occasions LaPorte threatened to kill himself. She also admitted that during her relationship with LaPorte, and at his direction, she produced sexually explicit images of herself and V-4, sent those images to LaPorte over the messaging application Kik Messenger, and later deleted the images. Following this interview, Trimm was permitted to return to her home. She was not arrested and no charges were brought against her at that time.

On October 27, 2016, a federal grand jury returned a four count Indictment against LaPorte and Bailey. 5:16-CR-320 (DNH). Both LaPorte and Bailey were charged in three of the counts with crimes involving the sexual exploitation of V-1, an infant female child. LaPorte alone was charged in the fourth count with the sexual exploitation of V-2 and V-3, minors who were 12 and 16 years old, respectively, at the time of the offense. LaPorte and Bailey were remanded to federal custody following their initial appearances on October 28, 2016.

On March 16, 2017, pursuant to a written plea agreement, Bailey entered a plea of guilty to all three counts of the Indictment in which she was charged. Bailey also entered into an unfiled cooperation agreement with the United States of American (the "Government") at the same time, and began cooperating with the Government by providing information about both LaPorte and Trimm.

On March 23, 2017, the grand jury returned a Superseding Indictment against LaPorte, adding a fifth count to the charges against him: receipt of child pornography.

Based upon information gathered in the ongoing investigation, the Government determined that it had sufficient corroboration of Trimm's statements to police that she had sexually exploited V-4 at LaPorte's request. Nine months after her initial interview, on March 23, 2017, she was arrested and charged by Complaint with conspiracy to sexually exploit a child. 8:17-MJ-123 (TWD). The Complaint charged her with conspiring with LaPorte to produce visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 2251(a) and (e). That offense subjected her to the mandatory minimum penalty provision of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(e). Following her initial appearance on March 27, 2017 and detention hearing on March 30, 2017, she was ordered detained.

Trimm immediately chose to cooperate with the Government and on April 10, 2017, she executed a proffer agreement, providing information about her history with LaPorte including their abuse...