Free Sentencing Memorandum - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

1 JON M. SANDS Federal Public Defender 2 District of Arizona 850 W. Adams Street, #201 3 Phoenix, Arizona 85007 Telephone: (602) 382-2745 4 DAVID LEE TITTERINGTON 5 State Bar # 006500 Asst. Federal Public Defender 6 [email protected] Attorney for Defendant 7 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 9 10 United States of America, No. CR-04-36-PHX-EHC Plaintiff, 11 SENTENCING 12 v. MEMORANDUM 13 Joseph Daniel Martinez, Defendant. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 s/ David Lee Titterington DAVID LEE TITTERINGTON Assistant Federal Public Defender Joseph Daniel Martinez, through undersigned counsel, respectfully asks this Court to consider the following memorandum in determining the sentence to be imposed in this case. Respectfully submitted: October 31, 2005. JON M. SANDS Federal Public Defender

Case 2:04-cr-00036-EHC

Document 39

Filed 10/31/2005

Page 1 of 4

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

Memorandum On October 11, 2005, Joseph Daniel Martinez admitted that he violated the conditions of his supervised release by leaving the halfway house, Behavioral Systems Southwest, before he had completed the 90-day residency previously ordered by this Court. The disposition memorandum written by Ariel Palafox, his supervising probation officer, recommends that Mr. Martinez be sentenced to serve eight months in jail, followed by 28 months of supervised release. Mr. Palafox also recommends that Mr. Martinez be required to complete the program at Recovery Homes as a condition of supervised release. Mr. Martinez asks this Court to sentence him to time served, to reinstate him to supervised release, and to allow him to go to Recovery Homes now as a condition of supervised release. Mr. Martinez does not dispute his need for substance abuse treatment. Attached to this memorandum is a letter from Carolina Tamaya, Mr. Martinez's girlfriend. (See Exhibit A.) She strongly recommends that this Court require Mr. Martinez to obtain substance abuse treatment, and Mr. Martinez agrees with her assessment. Also attached is letter from Gary Gaston, the director of Recovery Homes, who has accepted Mr. Martinez as eligible for placement in his program. (See Exhibit B.) This request is not inconsistent with Mr. Martinez's admission that he left the halfway house, Behavioral Systems Southwest, before completing the 90-day residency ordered by this Court. Behavioral Systems Southwest simply does not provide the sober living environment required to provide substance abuse treatment to people who most need it because of the depth of their addictions. In July of this year, in a hearing before Magistrate Judge Lawrence Anderson, a witness testified that a staff member at Behavioral Systems Southwest was drinking while on the job, and was known consistently to smell of alcohol while working. See attached transcript, Exhibit C. While the behavior noted in this prior case occurred in May

2 Case 2:04-cr-00036-EHC Document 39 Filed 10/31/2005 Page 2 of 4

1 2005, it indicates serious problems with the environment at Behavioral Systems 2 Southwest. The inmate who testified about this problem noted: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Transcript at 22. 19 While this incident did not involve Mr. Martinez specifically, it is 20 indicative of the difficult atmosphere that permeates Behavioral Systems Southwest. 21 For a person afflicted with a serious addiction, Behavioral Systems Southwest can 22 sometimes exacerbate the problem. As this Court is aware, Recovery Homes can 23 more reliably provide the sober living environment necessary to help addicts in this 24 efforts to conquer their addictions. 25 For that reason, Mr. Martinez asks this Court to consider a sentence of 26 time served, followed by supervised release, and to require him to complete the 27 program at Recovery Homes as a condition of supervised release. 28
3 Case 2:04-cr-00036-EHC Document 39 Filed 10/31/2005 Page 3 of 4

Well, the thing is, a lot of us in there are ­ have drug and alcohol problems. And when you see someone in there who's drinking and drunk, you know, it's kind of like a slap in the face because here we are, you know, getting out of prison, coming from the street into there, which that place is not an easy place to live. I mean, that's why they have it. You know what I mean? You've got to earn your way out of there. And when you see someone like that in there, it's like a slap in the face. You know, and they can do what they want and, you know, that just goes to show. Like, I don't know, it's ­ I don't know the right word, but it's not cool.

1 2 3 4 5 6

Respectfully submitted: October 31, 2005. JON M. SANDS Federal Public Defender s/ David Lee Titterington DAVID LEE TITTERINGTON Assistant Federal Public Defender

7 Copy of the foregoing transmitted by CM/ECF for filing this 31st day 8 of October, 2005, to: 9 Clerk's Office United States District Court 10 Sandra Day O'Connor Courthouse 401 W. Washington 11 Phoenix, Arizona 85003 12 Richard Suzuki Assistant U.S. Attorney 13 United States Attorney's Office Two Renaissance Square 14 40 N. Central Avenue, Suite 1200 Phoenix, Arizona 85004-4408 15 Copy mailed to: 16 17 Ariel Palafox U.S. Probation Officer 18 401 West Washington Street, Suite 160 Phoenix, Arizona 85003 19 Joseph Daniel Martinez 20 Defendant 21 22 s/ Kathy A. Kruckeberg Kathy A. Kruckeberg 23 24 25 26 27 28
4 Case 2:04-cr-00036-EHC Document 39 Filed 10/31/2005 Page 4 of 4