Defendant's Rebuttal to Government's Opposition to Motion for Reconsideration — United States v. Aaron Ashcraft (E.D. Cal.)

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U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California · No. 2:22-cr-00087-KJM · Doc. 51 · 2024-05-06 · Docket on CourtListener

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Case 2:22-cr-00087-KJM Document51 Filed 05/06/24 Pagelof5

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 2024
* CALIFORNIA
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Plaintiff,
Vv. Case No.: 2:22-CR-00087-KJM-1
AARON ASHCRAFT
Defendant,

DEFENDANT’S REBUTTAL TO PLAINTIFF’S OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR
RECONSIDERATION

Now comes the Defendant, Aaron David Ashcraft, proceeding pro se Defendant’s Rebuttal to
Plaintiff’s Opposition to Defendant’s Motion of Reconsideration filed on April 17, 2024.

BACKGROUND

The Defendant submitted a Motion for Reconsideration filed on March 19, 2024 in response to
this Court’s stipulated lack of supporting evidence pertaining to the Defendant’s Son, Dhameon
James Ashcraft, specifically medical reports showing the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis and
clarification of his age. This Court also requested evidence supporting the Defendant’s claim that
the only available caretaker is mentally incapacitated and unable to provide care for Dhameon.
The following is the Defendant’s Rebuttal of the Plaintiff’s Opposition.

REBUTTAL

The Plaintiff’s Opposition to the Defendant’s Motion, essentially, identifies two arguments to
deny the Defendant’s Motion. They are 1) Defendant has not established Extraordinary and
Compelling Circumstances due to “Family Circumstances” ; and 2) Defendant’s release would
upset the 3533 factors. Defendant responds to these arguments as follows:

1) Defendant has not established Extraordinary and Compelling Circumstances due to
“Family Circumstances”.
The Plaintiff Opposition states that the records the Defendant provided in the Motion for

Reconsideration filed March 19, 2024 in regards to both his son’s inability to care for himself
and the absence of any available family member to provide care for Dhameon was not

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sufficient. Contrary to the Plaintiff’s claim, the evidence was in fact very extensive, detailing the
multiple medical issues and procedures that Dhameon has suffered and is suffering from. The
Defendant believes the 106 pages of medical information that was provided is indicative of
Dhameon’s inability to provide self-care. The Defendant also provided supporting evidence,
which was also included in the Motion for Reconsideration filed March 19, 2024, in the form of
emails between the Defendant and his son. These emails were conveyed through the Bureau of
Prison’s Electronic Mail System known as “Corrlinks”. The emails detail many of the
difficulties Dhameon has faced and is facing without the support of a caregiver.

The Defendant has provided a written statement from Dhameon clarifying the lack of an
available caregiver and attesting to the fact that Dhameon is not able to care for himself. It has
been included in this Rebuttal to the Plaintiff’s Opposition and labeled “Attachment A”.

The Plaintiff also claims that the Defendant did not provide evidence of incapacitation of his
wife or Dhameon’s biological mother. The Defendant provides ample evidence in regards to his
wife’s mental incapacitation. (See Motion for Reconsideration, Attachment B) The
documentation provided by a State of California Mental Health Facility indicates the
Defendant’s wife, Rhonda Morton, is “Gravely Disabled” and as such in the State if California is
unable to care for herself. Based on the accompanying information within Attachment B it is
apparent Rhonda is not suitable to care for anyone let alone herself.

Dhameon’s biological mother is living out of state, last known location in Michigan. There have
been multiple attempts to contact her without any result. She has not been present in the raising
and caring of Dhameon, she is not financial secure or able to support herself, and according to
word of mouth from mutual friends of Dhameon’s mother she is caring for her mother in
Michigan who is battling stage 4 breast cancer. This was also noted in the Defendant’s original
Reply to Opposition, file February 1, 2024, page 3, Fact’s of Rebuttal

2) 3533 Factors

This Honorable Court mercifully sentenced the Defendant based on his crimes. The second
aspect of the United States Sentencing Guidelines Amendment 821 afforded the Defendant a 2
point drop in his sentencing guidelines which this Honorable Court expeditiously applied and
lowered the Defendant’s sentence. Prior to self-surrender, the Bureau of Prisons assessed the
Defendant to determine his risk to society and placed him in a facility with the lowest possible
security level. The Defendant addressed this issue in his filing, but reminds the Court that he
poses no threat to society.

It is the Defendant’s understanding that within his Motion he made it clear what exactly he was
asking for. The Defendant apologizes to the Court if this is not the case. The Defendant is asking
not to be released. In fact, the Defendant is asking to remain in custody, but be allowed to care
for his family. As detailed in the Defendant's original Motion, the Defendant asks this Honorable
Court to maintain the integrity of his sentence by converting the sentence to home confinement
with modified supervised release (see original Motion). If the Motion is granted, the Defendant
would not be released, but be on an ankle monitor tethered to his house. By doing so, the
sentence imposed by this Honorable Court would be respected and maintained.

If the Plaintiff truly believed that the Defendant required the supervision of a dangerous
individual, the Plaintiff would embrace the Motion submitted by the Defendant. The Defendant
is asking for the ability to work and take care of his family while on an ankle monitor with strict

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supervision. If the Defendant's Motion is granted, the Defendant actions will be considerably
more scrutinized than they currently are.

CONCLUSION

The Defendant would like to remind the Court that he has been pursuing a Motion for
Compassionate Release since December, 2023. It has been nearly five months in which
Dhameon’s quality of living, health, and financial stability has deteriorated dramatically.
Dhameon is very close to being evicted from his apartment for lack of payment and has not had
any recent contact from friends that have helped him from time to time. His health has been
declining, his emotional state has been highly compromised, and he is unable to attend routine
medical procedures to treat his medical conditions.

The Defendant asks for this Honorable Court’s mercy in granting his release to care for his son.
The Defendant will be able to procure immediate employment and will strictly abide by the
ruling of this Court and the rules set forth in release and probation guidelines. The Defendant
will take his place as a law abiding, contributing member of the community.

While incarcerated the Defendant has remained abstinent of drug use (and will never use drugs
again in his life), has been involved in drug and psychological rehabilitation programming, and
holds a job in the education department teaching classes to help other inmates receive their
General Equivalency Diploma. The Defendant is anxious to return to his community, atoll for his
crimes, contribute to our society, pay his restitution, and provide a stable life for himself and
Dhameon.

The Defendant would also like to make the Court aware of the fact that he was to be enrolled in
the RDAP program and in fact was specifically sent to the Sheridan Federal Prison Camp to
participate in this program. The camp did enroll the Defendant but did not enroll him until it was
too late to make any difference in the Defendant’s release date and in fact suspended the
program. Had the Defendant been enrolled properly and at the appropriate time, his release date
would have been August of 2024 at the completion of the RDAP program. Because the program
was suspended the Defendant could not participate and will not have the opportunity for release
until early 2025.

In conclusion the Defendant asks this Honorable Court to Grant the original Motion for
Compassionate release based on the addition of this evidence and the evidence provided in the
Motion for Reconsideration, and allow the Defendant to care for Dhameon.

Respectfully Submitted,

4 £
Dated: April 25, 2024 S/ ett)

Sheridan, Oregon Aaron Ashcraft
Reg. No.: 00025-510
FCI Sheridan Camp
P.O. Box #6000
Sheridan, OR 97378

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I, Aaron Ashcraft certify that I served a true copy of the attached Defendant’s Motion For
Reconsideration by placing a copy in the United States mail addressed to:

United States Attorney’s Office
501 I Street, Suite 10-100
Sacramento, CA 95814

‘

Dated: April 25, 2024 S/ /

Sheridan, Oregon Aaron Ashcraft
Reg. No.: 00025-510
FCI Sheridan Camp

P.O. Box #6000
Sheridan, OR 97378

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Dhameon Ashcraft Letter about my situation and my dad Aaron Ashcraft in prison
March 23, 2024

1, Dhameon James Ashcraft, am making this written statement for my father’s court case
for release from prison so he can take care of me. | am 21 years old and | am sick with
Multiple Sclerosis. | am not able to take care of myself and there are no relatives or family
that can take care of me except my dad. My dad has raised me since | was 3 years old and
my mother has rarely been around. I have not been able to contact my mother in a long
time and do not know where she is. My dad sold his car before he went to prison and left
me with the money to pay rent and get food but the money is all gone and | am about to get
kicked out of my apartment and barely have any food and no way to get rides to the
hospital. | did have some friends helping me out sometimes but they have all moved away
for school or just don’t talk to me anymore. My father is the only person that can take care
of me, his family lives very far away and cannot help me out and my mom and her family do
not talk to me and don’t live here they are in some other state. | am very afraid all the time
because | can’t walk sometimes, sometimes | have very bad headaches, | can’t work!| can’t
even drive. | have missed my last 2 appointments at the hospital and my medicine isn’t
working very good anymore. | have trouble righting and using my fingers so | am writing this
with voice recognition stuff on my computer.

Please let my dad out to take care of me it has been very hard and | am scared about what |
can do when | get kicked out of my apartment. | am scared what | can do without any
money. | fall down sometimes and there is no one to help me up or help me to the
bathroom. | need my dad more than anything ever. | am depressed and | feel like giving up.
My dad is not a bad person he is very nice and he helps a lot of people and he raised me
right. | know if you let him out he will not do anything bad ever again. He is super worried
about me and scared something is going to happen to me.

Please, please let my dad out to take care of me, he is all | have even my stepmom can’t
take care of me she is in a mental hospital and she doesn’t have a house. | am in a very bad
situation. If my dad doesn’t get out very soon! am very afraid something bad will happen to
me. Please help me and help my dad help me.

Thank you for reading my letter,

Wistar. Mabenebt

Dhameon James Ashcraft

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