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Law360 (October 27, 2020, 2:02 PM EDT) -- Prosecutors told a federal judge Monday that a woman who pled guilty in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions case is trying to "take advantage of the pandemic" by citing prison quarantine mandates in her bid for early release.
Elizabeth Henriquez has twice tried to shorten her seven-month term unsuccessfully, and last week said the three-week "exit quarantine" she will have to endure crammed into a tiny cell for nearly 24 hours per day is a more severe punishment than the court intended when the sentence was handed down.
But prosecutors pushed back on the request for a seven-week reduction in the time spent in the Dublin, California, prison, casting doubt on Henriquez's claim that she did not know about the need to quarantine on the way out of prison.
"Far from taking responsibility for her conduct and accepting the sentence the court imposed, Henriquez is yet again seeking to take advantage of the pandemic to escape the punishment this court concluded was just and appropriate," the government wrote to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton in its reply brief Monday.
Prosecutors noted that Henriquez's lawyers initially asked for home detention at the sentencing in March, saying prison would not be a safe place for their client until a COVID-19 vaccine was available. But Judge Gorton said at the time that the pandemic would not be cause for keeping people out of prison whom he felt deserved to be there.
Henriquez tried to modify her sentence in June and again in September. In the latter motion, her lawyers noted that she may have to spend time quarantining before she is released.
Prosecutors said Monday that the legal standard for early release was "extraordinary and compelling circumstances," not whether an inmate is subject to quarantine. They noted that Henriquez's June motion cited the judge's ruling allowing another "Varsity Blues" parent, Toby MacFarlane, to be released from prison seven weeks early, a decision that specifically noted MacFarlane's own "exit quarantine" requirement.
"As with her last motion for compassionate release, Henriquez's instant motion does not identify a single condition that puts her at higher risk for severe illness should she contract the virus," the government added, noting that she herself had highlighted the possibility of a second wave of infections and that it was unlikely that the pandemic would have waned by the fall.
Both Henriquez's lawyer and a government representative declined to comment Tuesday.
Under Henriquez's proposal, she would begin the exit quarantine this month, allowing for a mid- to late-November release instead of the current Jan. 7, 2021, date.
Henriquez pled guilty to agreeing, along with her husband, Manuel, to pay more than $500,000 to engage in a variety of schemes to get their daughters an unfair edge in the college admissions process.
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.
--Editing by Stephen Berg.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
