Court Opinion

ID: 9910866
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-12-18 19:00:48.966577+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:54:43.293484
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-60382        Document: 00517005067             Page: 1      Date Filed: 12/18/2023

             United States Court of Appeals
                  for the Fifth Circuit
                                     ____________                              United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                        Fifth Circuit

                                                                                       FILED
                                      No. 23-60382                           December 18, 2023
                                    Summary Calendar
                                    ____________                                 Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                                      Clerk
   United States of America,

                                                                     Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                            versus

   Heriberto Rodriguez-Flores,

                                              Defendant—Appellant.
                     ______________________________

                     Appeal from the United States District Court
                       for the Southern District of Mississippi
                               USDC No. 2:05-CR-21-1
                     ______________________________

   Before Higginbotham, Stewart, and Southwick, Circuit
   Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
         Heriberto Rodriguez-Flores, federal prisoner # 07518-043, appeals
   from the denial of his motion for compassionate release under 18 U.S.C. §
   3582(c)(1)(A)(i). He argues (1) the district court abused its discretion in
   finding his cancer did not qualify as a terminal illness because it was in
   remission; (2) the district court abused its discretion in finding his other
         _____________________
         *
             This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4.
Case: 23-60382      Document: 00517005067          Page: 2   Date Filed: 12/18/2023

                                    No. 23-60382

   serious health conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and
   obesity, did not constitute extraordinary and compelling reasons for his
   release because they were being actively treated; (3) the district court abused
   its discretion in finding the threat of contracting COVID-19 was extremely
   low as it is still a serious problem in the prison population; (4) his
   rehabilitation, along with his health problems, warrants his compassionate
   release; and (5) he has served over 17 years in prison, which constitutes over
   65 percent of his sentence.
          We review the denial of Rodriguez-Flores’s Section 3582(c)(1)(A)(i)
   motion for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Chambliss, 948 F.3d 691,
   693 (5th Cir. 2020). Rodriguez-Flores has not shown any error in the district
   court’s finding that his cancer is in remission and that he is actively being
   treated for his other medical conditions. In addition, he has shown no error
   in the district court’s determination that the risk he faces from COVID-19,
   even given his other medical conditions, does not amount to an extraordinary
   and compelling reason for compassionate release. See United States v.
   Rodriguez, 27 F.4th 1097, 1100–01 (5th Cir. 2022); United States v. Thompson,
   984 F.3d 431, 433, 435 (5th Cir. 2021). He has also failed to demonstrate that
   the district court erred in considering the current COVID-19 conditions or
   his vaccination status when determining that extraordinary and compelling
   circumstances do not exist. See Rodriguez, 27 F.4th at 1099–101 & n.2.
   Further, the district court was not required to grant Rodriguez-Flores’s
   motion based on his rehabilitation efforts or his length of imprisonment. See
   Concepcion v. United States, 597 U.S. 481, 502 (2022).
          Rodriguez-Flores failed to support that the district court abused its
   discretion in denying his motion for compassionate release based on its
   finding that he failed to establish extraordinary and compelling
   circumstances. Accordingly, we do not reach his argument that the 18 U.S.C.

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Case: 23-60382     Document: 00517005067          Page: 3   Date Filed: 12/18/2023

                                   No. 23-60382

   § 3553(a) factors warranted relief. See United States v. Jackson, 27 F.4th
   1088, 1093 n.8 (5th Cir. 2022); see also Thompson, 984 F.3d at 433–35.
          AFFIRMED.

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