United States v. Khem, 0:21-cr-00141

Defendant Sobin Khem pled guilty in Aug. 2021 to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced as an armed career criminal under the ACCA to 180 months’ imprisonment after a downward variance.
Khem’s sentence carries a 15-year mandatory minimum; at the time of the motion he had served ~2 years with a projected release in 2034.
Khem filed a pro se motion under the First Step Act seeking compassionate release based on rehabilitation and participation in prison programs.
The government opposed the motion; the record contains no evidence Khem requested relief from his BOP warden or otherwise exhausted administrative remedies.
The court found rehabilitation alone is not an "extraordinary and compelling" reason under applicable law and that release would conflict with 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) considerations (mandatory minimum, public safety, sentencing disparity).
The court denied the motion for failure to exhaust administrative remedies and on the merits because Khem did not present extraordinary and compelling reasons and release would be inconsistent with sentencing factors.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Exhaustion of administrative remedies	Gov: Defendant must exhaust BOP processes or wait 30 days before court may act	Khem: Filed pro se motion to court seeking compassionate release (no record of BOP request)	Denied for failure to show he exhausted administrative remedies; motion premature
Extraordinary and compelling reasons for release	Gov: No qualifying extraordinary and compelling reason shown	Khem: Rehabilitation, program completion, and difficult background justify early release	Denied; rehabilitation alone is not an extraordinary and compelling reason
Consistency with § 3553(a) sentencing factors	Gov: Early release would undercut statutory mandatory minimum, public safety, and create disparity	Khem: Continued rehabilitation supports lower sentence	Denied; reduction would not comport with § 3553(a) given mandatory minimum, short time served, and public-safety concerns

United States v. Brown, 411 F. Supp. 3d 446 (S.D. Iowa 2019) (rehabilitation alone insufficient for compassionate release)
United States v. Brown, 457 F. Supp. 3d 691 (S.D. Iowa 2020) (amended order on reconsideration addressing compassionate-release standards)