United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit

Chicago, Illinois 60604

Submitted May 19, 2021*

Decided May 20, 2021 

Before

WILLIAM J. BAUER, Circuit Judge

MICHAEL S. KANNE, Circuit Judge

DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judge

No. 21-1112 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

Plaintiff-Appellee, 

v. 

TRACY REDMOND,

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District 

Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 

Eastern Division.

No. 05 CR 48-2 

Matthew F. Kennelly, 

Judge. 

O R D E R

Tracy Redmond, a federal inmate with Type 2 diabetes and obesity, sought 

compassionate release because of his risk of severe complications if he contracted

COVID-19. The district court acknowledged the severity of Redmond’s conditions in 

light of the pandemic but concluded that the sentencing factors under 18 U.S.C. 

* We have agreed to decide this case without oral argument because the briefs 

and record adequately present the facts and legal arguments, and oral argument would 

not significantly aid the court. FED. R. APP. P. 34(a)(2)(C).

NONPRECEDENTIAL DISPOSITION

To be cited only in accordance with Fed. R. App. P. 32.1
No. 21-1112 Page 2 

§ 3553(a) weighed against his release. Because the court did not abuse its discretion in 

denying the motion, we affirm.

A jury found Redmond guilty in 2006 of committing and conspiring to commit a 

robbery of an armored car, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1951, 1952, and using a firearm during a 

robbery, id. § 924(c). He received a 256-month sentence, and we affirmed the conviction 

and sentence on appeal. United States v. Watson, 525 F.3d 583 (7th Cir. 2008). Redmond’s

projected release date is September 24, 2023. 

In June 2020, Redmond moved for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. 

§ 3582(c)(1)(a)(i). He asserted that he had already tested positive for COVID-19 in April 

2020 and that, as an inmate with Type 2 diabetes, he faces a high risk of severe 

complications or death if he contracts COVID-19 again. He also argued that the court 

should grant him early release because he had served over 80% of his sentence, earned 

his GED while incarcerated, has no prison disciplinary record for violence, and has a 

home and job lined up upon release. A reply filed by counsel noted that Redmond is 

also obese and cited studies suggesting that Redmond still had a chance of reinfection 

even though he had already contracted and recovered from COVID-19. 

The district court denied the motion. It determined that Redmond’s obesity and 

Type 2 diabetes were extraordinary and compelling circumstances in light of the 

COVID-19 pandemic and acknowledged that, even though Redmond had recovered 

from the virus once, reinfection was possible. But it concluded that the § 3553(a) factors 

counseled against Redmond’s early release. The court explained that Redmond’s 

offense was “unusually serious”; he conspired with a bank teller to carry out an armed 

robbery of an armored car, during which he held a gun to a guard’s neck, grabbed a bag 

containing over $400,000 in cash, and shot the guard three times at point-blank range 

(the guard, thankfully, survived). The court also noted that, a few weeks before this

robbery, Redmond had used information from the bank teller to rob an elderly bank 

customer, and he also had several previous felony convictions for firearm possession, 

drug offenses, and a burglary. The court acknowledged Redmond’s good behavior

while in prison and his plan for reentry but determined that his extensive criminal 

history and the violent nature of this offense, see § 3553(a)(1), the ongoing need to 

protect the community, see § 3553(a)(2)(C), and the need to provide just punishment, 

see § 3553(a)(2)(A), all weighed against his early release. 

On appeal, Redmond first argues that the district court erred by considering 

what he describes as “factually false and prejudicial” information. He objects to the 
No. 21-1112 Page 3 

court’s description of the robbery of the elderly bank customer, with which Redmond 

was never charged. But “[a] district court may rely on factual information supplied by a 

presentence report so long as it bears sufficient indicia of reliability to support its 

probable accuracy.” United States v. Salinas, 365 F.3d 582, 587–88 (7th Cir. 2004). And 

here, the PSR details a recorded conversation between the bank teller and a confidential 

informant that implicated Redmond in the robbery of the customer. So even though 

Redmond was not prosecuted for that conduct, the court did not err by relying on it

when considering his history and characteristics. 

Redmond also argues that he should be released because at least eight inmates in 

his facility have died from COVID-19, and he should not be subjected to this serious 

risk of illness or death so close to his release date. The district court acknowledged the 

danger posed by the virus given Redmond’s preexisting health conditions. But it did 

not abuse its discretion by determining that the § 3553(a) factors—particularly the 

calculated and violent nature of Redmond’s offense and his long criminal history—still 

weighed against an early release. See United States v. Saunders, 986 F.3d 1076, 1078 

(7th Cir. 2021). 

AFFIRMED