United States v. Boyland

United States v. Boyland

Opinion

MEMORANDUM & ORDER

WILLIAM F. KUNTZ, II, United States District Judge:

On May 8, 2020, William F. Boyland, Jr. ("Defendant") filed the instant motion for compassionate release, principally based on the risks posed to him by the COVID-19 pandemic, his comorbidities, and the conditions at Federal Correctional Institution ("FCI") Schuylkill. While this motion was pending, the Federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") transferred Defendant to home confinement. For the reasons set forth below, the Court DENIES as moot Defendant's motion for compassionate release.

BACKGROUND

Following a month-long trial in February and March 2014, Defendant, a former New York State Assemblyman, was convicted by a jury of ten counts of honest services [*2]  fraud and eleven other offenses relating to bribery and extortion. Jury Verdict, ECF No. 92. In September 2015, he was sentenced by the Honorable Judge Sandra L. Townes to concurrent terms of imprisonment totaling 168 months.

In May 2020, shortly after the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and while incarcerated at FCI Schuylkill, Defendant filed three submissions seeking compassionate release. See Def. Mot., ECF No. 184; Def. First Supplement, ECF No. 183; Def. Second Supplement, ECF No. 186. Defendant writes that COVID-19 poses "a unique, extraordinary and potential[ly] irreversible life[-]threatening circumstance" to him in light of his comorbidities and discusses his medical issues and the conditions of confinement at FCI Schuylkill. Def. Mot. at 1-7. Defendant requests the Court order his "immediate release and/or placement in home confinement which would result in his removal from the prison setting." Id. at 11. Defendant's subsequent supplemental filings inform the Court of "another exstinuating [sic] factor" favoring compassionate release: that Defendant's wife, the sole caretaker of their son, had been diagnosed with Lupus and had become disabled. Def. First Supplement at 1, [*3]  3.

The Government responded to Defendant's motion on May 15, 2020, and Defendant filed a third supplemental submission that same day. Gov't Opp., ECF No. 185; Def. Third Supplement, ECF No. 188. On July 29, 2020, Defendant filed a fourth supplement in support of his compassionate release motion. Def. Fourth Supplement, ECF No. 189. On May 4, 2021, the Government informed the Court the BOP had transferred Defendant from prison to home confinement. Gov't Ltr., No. 191. The Government argues Defendant's release to home confinement renders his motion moot. Id.

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