Free Reply/Response Misc - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:00-cr-00197-CFD

Document 50

Filed 06/18/2008

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. HECTOR CRUZ : : : CRIMINAL NO. 3:00CR197(DJS/CFD) June 17, 2008

DEFENDANT'S MEMORANDUM RE: REVOCATION HEARING The defendant, Hector Cruz, submits this memorandum as an aid to the Court for the revocation hearing scheduled on June 24, 2008. The probation office's Form 12 Amended Petition (dated May 19, 2008) and its attached Report of Violation of Supervised Release (dated April 23, 2008) contain significant factual errors. First, the Form 12 and the Report of Violation both claim that the defendant was convicted of Sexual Assault in the First Degree. He was not. The State's Attorney nolled that charge after an independent witness (a security guard at the train station) provided information to an investigator for the State's Attorney's Office that contradicted the purported victim's version of the events. In a nutshell, the purported victim claimed that the defendant violently assaulted her in the ladies' room of the train station, but the security guard observed her after the alleged assault was to have taken place, and the purported victim did not appear to be upset or to have been crying. The guard spoke to her asking whether she was waiting for a bus or a train, and she replied that she was waiting for her boyfriend to give her a ride. See Ex. A. The defendant and the purported victim were dating and were both in the throes of their respective addictions. After the defendant sold his girlfriend's property for drugs, she was angry and fabricated the assault charge. Ultimately, the state decided not to prosecute that charge. The defendant pled to Unlawful Restraint and to Assaulting a Corrections Officer (which occurred during his pretrial detention on the charges mentioned previously). Ex. B. The second error in the Report of Violation is that the defendant's original sentence, imposed by the Honorable Dominic J. Squatrito, was 48 months, not 51 months as stated in the first paragraph

Case 3:00-cr-00197-CFD

Document 50

Filed 06/18/2008

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-2of the report. Third, the report maintains that the guideline revocation range is 33-41 months. This is accurate as far as it goes, but it is important to read that statement in conjunction with the paragraph that immediately precedes it in the violation report. That is, because the defendant's underlying conviction (for which he was on supervised release) was a Class C felony, the maximum sentence that may be imposed is 24 months. 18 U.S.C. § 3583(e)(3). Thus, the advisory guideline range of 33-41 is without significance in this case. The true range is 0-24 months. As the Court will note upon reading the presentence report prepared in connection with the underlying federal offense and the defendant's original sentencing memorandum, the defendant had a traumatic history that will have consequences for the rest of his life. It was based on that history that Judge Squatrito departed at the defendant's original sentencing hearing. Since his incarceration on his state convictions, the defendant has made efforts to take advantage of the opportunities offered to him to address that history. He attends group therapy in two groups, one that is a special program lasting six weeks and one that meets every other day addressing PTSD issues (post-traumatic stress disorder). He has attended the latter group for more than a year. He also has a job within the prison doing maintenance work. He is trying to improve himself and prepare for his ultimate return to the community. In light of the substantial sentences he received from the state and in light of the efforts he is now making to improve himself, he respectfully asks the Court to impose a sentence in this case that runs concurrently to his state sentences.

Case 3:00-cr-00197-CFD

Document 50

Filed 06/18/2008

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Respectfully submitted, THE DEFENDANT, Hector Cruz THOMAS G. DENNIS FEDERAL DEFENDER

Dated: June 17, 2008

/s/ Terence S. Ward Assistant Federal Defender 10 Columbus Blvd, 6th FL Hartford, CT 06106 Phone: (860) 493-6260 Bar No.: ct00023 Email: [email protected] CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I HEREBY CERTIFY that a copy of the foregoing memorandum re: revocation hearing has been mailed to Michael Gustafson, Assistant United States Attorney, Federal Building, 450 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103, on this 17 day of June 2008.

/s/ Terence S. Ward