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Law360 (October 30, 2020, 12:36 PM EDT ) A three-week "exit quarantine" required of a California woman before she can leave prison doesn't warrant shortening her seven-month sentence in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions case, a Massachusetts federal judge said Thursday.
Elizabeth Henriquez had argued in her third bid to shorten her seven-month prison term that having to spend the final 21 days crammed into a tiny cell for nearly 24 hours a day was a far harsher sentence than U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton intended to impose when he sentenced her in March at the onset of the pandemic.
But the argument failed to persuade Judge Gorton.
"Because, for the third time, defendant has failed to demonstrate extraordinary and compelling reasons to reduce her sentence, motion denied," the judge wrote Thursday in the bottom margin of her motion papers.
According to Henriquez, her exit quarantine was slated to start Oct. 28 and finish Nov. 19, during which time she'd stay in a cell with one other person and have 10 minutes each day, three days a week, to leave the cell to shower and change clothes.
The "exit quarantine" is required due to the continued threat COVID-19 poses in California, but Henriquez said she never expected to have to quarantine both on her way into and out of prison.
Prosecutors opposed the motion, saying Henriquez's request amounted to an effort to "take advantage of the pandemic to escape the punishment this court concluded was just and appropriate."
Henriquez pled guilty to agreeing, along with her husband Manuel, to pay more than $500,000 to engage in various schemes to get their daughters an unfair edge in the college admissions process, including by passing off one daughter as a fake tennis recruit.
Elizabeth Henriquez first tried to modify her sentence in June, citing unspecified health issues that put her at risk if she contracted the virus in prison. Her second unsuccessful attempt in September to have the court reduce her sentence raised concerns over the quarantine lockdowns, arguing that others convicted in the college admissions case had received similar reductions based on unexpected time spent in solitary confinement.
Judge Gorton in March told Henriquez the pandemic wouldn't become a reason for keeping parents convicted in the case from serving their time.
"I will not forfeit the obligation of a federal judge to impose a sentence that is warranted by the defendant's conduct," the judge said at the time. "I have every hope the COVID[-19] crisis will abate within a period of months and Ms. Henriquez will be able to serve her sentence safely."
Representatives for the parties were not immediately available for comment Friday.
The government is represented by Justin D. O'Connell, Leslie A. Wright and Kristen A. Kearney of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Henriquez is represented by Aaron M. Katz, Colleen A. Conry and Laura Gaffney Hoey of Ropes & Gray LLP.
The case is U.S. v. Colburn et al., case number 1:19-cr-10080, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
--Additional reporting by Chris Villani. Editing by Alyssa Miller.
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