By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon
SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 10 -- On November 29, 2005 Jeffrey Musumeci arranged to meet at 13 year old girl named Lisa on the corner of Houston Street and Avenue A on the Lower East Side to take naked photos of her, and more.
He thought.
In fact Lisa did not exist and he had been chatting over the Internet with an undercover agent, not unlike more recent "attempted enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity" convict Peter Bright, a (re) trial that Inner City Press covered, here.
Jump cut to April 29, 2020: the U.S. Bureau of Prisons amid the Coronavirus pandemic said inmate Jeffrey Musumeci would be released. Then without explanation, even as the virus spread, they changed it to June 25.
On April 28, 2020 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Richard Berman asked for the second day in a row what sense this made. He called it arbitrary, a case of "the inmates running the asylum." Then, nearly an hour into the proceeding, he noted that BOP's action might take the case out from under the "exhaustion of remedies" 30 day waiting period, since it was in essence an action, a decision.
Judge Berman has said, in this case and others including that of Tyler Toro, that in this period of pandemic he and other Federal judges are doing their most important work, in conjunction often not only with defense lawyers but also some Assistant US Attorneys, trying to release those who can be released, to protect them.
Later on April 28, this Order, after "the hearings held by this Court on April 27, 2020 and April 28, 2020 at which the Court stated that, while it would prefer that BOP release Mr. Musumeci to home confinement on April 29, 2020, if BOP fails to do so the Court would quickly decide the compassionate release motion. (The Court incorporates into this Decision & Order the full transcripts of the proceedings held on April 27, 2020 and April 28, 2020.) The Court without hesitation grants Musumeci's motion for a compassionate release. The Court reduces Defendant's sentence to time served effective immediately, followed by five years of supervised release. The BOP is respectfully directed to release Mr. Musumeci to his daughter, Jessica Beatty, no later than noon on April 29, 2020."
Next Inner City Press reported that the release took place, to Ms. Beatty, at 11:15 am. It is not every day that things, after Kafka-esque chess moves, move this quickly.
Jump cut to April 10, 2023, when Judge Berman convened a proceeding on whether to terminate supervised release of Musumeci. Probation said they do not support such termination for sex offenders, but were not opposed. It was raise that it had been a sting operation; another said that was less important.
Musumeci, speaking for himself, recounted after his release getting a smart TV / joy stick that had Netflix as well as Disney Plus. He was told to get rid of it, since it was not on the computer and subject to monitoring. On April 10, 2023 he said he said dumb TVs can no longer be found, and that he has a smart TV in the box, waiting.
Judge Berman ordered that it can be used - but for now, polygraph questions about it will be asked.
Judge Berman said no one is opposed on the merits; therapist Valerie wants to see more development in interpersonal dynamics. The age of people interacted with, in monitored online dating, was mentioned.
A next conference was set for August 28, 2023.
We'll have more on all these cases - including, inevitably, that of convicted Doctor Hadden, and we hope on work to assess and document the benefits of these approaches.
There seemed to be a recognition on April 10 that ending supervision early was not without controversy. The applicability to a defendant like Hadden should - and we believe will - be addressed. We will continue to write on both cases.
More on Substack here.
This case is US v. Musumeci, 07-cr-402 (Berman).
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