United States v. Montoya, 1:18-cr-10225

Raymond Montoya was sentenced in March 2019 to 175 months for wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering; he is incarcerated at USP Lompoc and scheduled for release in 2031.
On March 22, 2021 Montoya moved for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), citing age and medical vulnerability to COVID-19; the government opposed the motion.
Montoya is 73 and has stage 3 chronic kidney disease (not on dialysis), hypertension, high cholesterol, anxiety, and gout; he is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The Sentencing Commission’s policy statement (USSG § 1B1.13) identifies qualifying ‘‘extraordinary and compelling’’ medical conditions as those that substantially diminish self-care in prison.
The court found Montoya’s stage 3 kidney disease and other conditions did not meet that threshold, noted BOP reports of no active COVID-19 cases at Lompoc and Level 1 operations, and emphasized Montoya had served only about 12% of his sentence.
The court denied compassionate release, concluding Montoya failed to show extraordinary and compelling reasons and that § 3553(a) factors (punishment/deterrence/public protection) weighed against release.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (United States)	Defendant's Argument (Montoya)	Held
Whether Montoya’s age and medical conditions constitute "extraordinary and compelling reasons" for compassionate release	Conditions are not sufficiently serious to substantially diminish self-care in prison	Age (73) and stage 3 kidney disease plus other conditions make him highly vulnerable to severe COVID-19	Denied — court: conditions do not meet the § 1B1.13 standard for extraordinary and compelling reasons
Whether USSG § 1B1.13 governs defendant-filed motions	§ 1B1.13 is a useful (if not conclusive) guide to the medical threshold	§ 1B1.13 may not be binding on defendant-filed motions; defendant still meets its standard	Court treated § 1B1.13 as helpful and applied its medical threshold; defendant did not qualify
Whether the § 3553(a) sentencing factors support release	§ 3553(a) (punishment, deterrence, public protection) weigh against release given sentence length and harm to victims	Health risks justify shortening sentence despite limited time served	Denied — court found § 3553(a) factors (serious offense, limited sentence served) counseled strongly against release
Whether prison conditions at USP Lompoc justify release	BOP data show no active cases and Level 1 operations, reducing COVID risk	Prior outbreaks and inherent institutional risk justify release	Court found BOP reports and current low active cases undermined the argument for release

United States v. Tidwell, 476 F. Supp. 3d 66 (E.D. Pa. 2020) (examples of compassionate release where defendants had serious comorbidities raising COVID risk)
United States v. Saccoccia, 10 F.4th 1 (1st Cir. 2021) (First Circuit declined to decide whether USSG § 1B1.13 is binding for defendant-filed motions)
United States v. Nuzzolilo, 517 F. Supp. 3d 40 (D. Mass. 2021) (denying compassionate release where defendant had served little of a long sentence)