Reduction granted on two bases to remedy extreme stash-house sting sentence

A helpful colleague alerted me to a notable recent sentence reduction ruling/opinion handed down last week in US v. Evans, No. 93-00123-CR (SD Fla. Dec. 10, 2024) (available download below). The case inolves a defendant who was initially sentenced three decades ago to 57 years in federal prison in a so-called "stash house sting" case. (I have posted on the ugly dynamics of stash-house stings in any number of prior posts, and I recommend two episodes of the Drugs on the Docket podcast (here and here).)  

The 33-page ruling in the Evans case should be read in full, as it covers lots of notable factual and legal ground.  The ruling defies easy summarization, and I will here just reprint the start of the opinion and some later notable passages:

Sherlon Evans has served over thirty-one years of a nearly fifty-year sentence, totaling 595 months.  Mr. Evans has now moved for a reduction in his sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), claiming that “extraordinary and compelling” reasons warrant review....   

Mr. Evans cites two “extraordinary and compelling” bases recognized by the recent policy statement issued by the U.S. Sentencing Commission (the “Commission”) as potentially justifying a reduction in sentence.  First, Mr. Evans contends that he is serving an “unusually long sentence” that is subject to a substantive change in law, which would produce a “gross disparity” between the sentence he is currently serving and the sentence that would likely be imposed today. USSG § 1B1.13(b)(6).  Second, Mr. Evans points to the “unique aspects of [his] case” under the “catch-all” provision of § 1B1.13(b)(5), which permits a reviewing court to consider “any other circumstance[s]” that are “similar in gravity” to the other extraordinary and compelling reasons recognized by the Commission.

The Government opposes Mr. Evans’s Motion in its entirety.  It first challenges the validity of the Commission’s new policy, claiming the Commission had no authority to issue it, that the policy conflicts with § 3582(c)(1)(A), and that the policy raises separation of powers concerns.  The Government also argues that even if the new policy is binding, Mr. Evans is not entitled to a reduction under the supposedly compelling reasons he cites.  I reject the Government’s position on both fronts ... and reduce his sentence to time served....

[A]t least forty-three defendants who were convicted through reverse stash house stings have since had their sentences reduced to an average of just three years following protracted litigation against the ATF for alleged racial discrimination in its implementation of reverse stings.  [And] the circumstances of Mr. Evans’s sentence are even more striking in light of the fact that he played a relatively minor role in the conspiracy orchestrated by the ATF and Henry. That is, Mr. Evans was arrested because he was present when Henry planned and executed the “robbery.” I use the term “present,” as “the case against Mr. Evans was one that rose and fell on presence, and nothing more than presence. Presence [at] one meeting in which he may or may not have had very little to say, and presence along with everybody else at the scene of the offense at the time the arrests were made.”  Mr. Evans was not the ringleader or mastermind, did not supply weapons or recruit the other co-defendants into the scheme.  He was not even present when the conspiracy was hatched.  He was a tagalong, a hired hand to assist in the criminal deeds of others. Yet, Mr. Evans was sentenced with nearly the same degree of severity as those who were arguably more culpable in the commission of the crime....

[Other cases in which sentences were reduced] echo my own dismay and discomfort with the concept of a reverse stash house sting.  And when such a process results in a sentence of nearly half a century, that is an intolerable outcome.  To be sure, § 1B1.13(b)(5) may not be a vehicle to question the wisdom of the Government’s policing and prosecutorial practices.  It is a vehicle, however, to question the wisdom of continuing to incarcerate this particular man for another decade or more.  Sherlon Evans has served thirty-one years in federal prison for his presence in a conspiracy that he did not plan or lead, attempting to rob drugs that never existed, and carrying a “machine gun” that wasn’t a machine gun, which he never bought, held, brandished, or used. If his original sentence is left unaltered, Mr. Evans will be well into his seventies when he leaves prison — without having been convicted of actually selling one gram of cocaine or hurting any other person.

Download US v. Evans sentence reduction opinion