Jail Conditions in MDC Had SDNY Judge Keep Chavez Free Now Butner With Release Mulled

Jail Conditions in MDC Had SDNY Judge Keep Chavez Free Now Butner With Release Mulled by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack SDNY COURTHOUSE, April 23 – Conditions in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn are leading Federal judges to allow convicts free on bond, most recently in a January 4 decision. On January 2 Moises Disla Ramos pleaded guilty to an armed robbery of victim(s) who came to buy a car and then were shot, one in the leg.    The plea was before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York  Judge Lewis J. Liman. Inner City Press was there, the only media in the courtroom.  The Federal Defender argued against the presumptive immediate remand, focusing on the conditions in the MDC and citing two cases by fellow SDNY District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer.  Judge Liman said he was not ruling that the conditions in the MDC could never constitute extraordinary circumstances to avoid remand after a plea - but said in this case, he would order remand. Reference was made to having other people's identity information. Two days later on January 4, fellow SDNY Judge Jesse M. Furman allowed Gustavo Chavez free pending sentencing, in a 19 page ruling largely about the MDC and applicable case law, concluding "continuing the bail of a defendant like Chavez, who has been 100% compliant with the terms of his release to date, does not pose a danger to anyone, and does not present a risk of flight. Accordingly, and for the reasons discussed above, the Court finds that there are “exceptional reasons” justifying Chavez’s continuing release pursuant to Section 3145(c) and thus grants his motion to continue his conditions of release through the date of his sentencing."   While the Chavez decision is debated - and not followed by Judges Cronan and most recently Woods, on February 20 Federal Defenders asked for 60 more days out for Chavez, to postpone his March 7 sentencing. It was, to May 23 at 2:30 pm Then on May 9, Federal Defenders put in their sentencing memo for Chavez - asking for time served, citing among other things panic disorder. On May 16 the US Attorney's Office requested "at least 48 months." On May 24, Chavez was sentenced to a year and a day (to allow "good time"), with self surrender, not to the MDC, set for August 22. On April 23, 2026 Judge Furman while noting that he has "neither the competence nor the authority to second guess the BOP's determination" nevertheless recommended FCI Butner and told defense counsel to tell him of any lack of care, as it "would like bear on whether Defendant should be granted relief from his sentence pursuant to 18 USC 3582(c).  The Judge Liman case is listed as US v. Ramos, 22-cr-431 (Liman) The January 4 Judge Furman decision is in US v. Chavez, 22-cr-303 (Furman) More analysis and comparison, including Epstein echo, on Substack here *** Your support means a lot. As little as $5 a month helps keep us going and grants you access to exclusive bonus material on our Patreon page. Click here to become a patron. Feedback: Editorial [at] innercitypress.com SDNY Press Room 480, front cubicle 500 Pearl Street, NY NY 10007 USA Mail: Box 20047, Dag Hammarskjold Station NY NY 10017 Reporter's mobile (and weekends): 718-716-3540 Other, earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.  Copyright 2006-2024 Inner City Press, Inc. To request reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at] innercitypress.com