DISTRICT COURT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 
DIVISION OF ST. CROIX 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA  
 
) 
 
 
 
 
) 
 
 
 
 
v. 
 
 
 
 
) 
Criminal Action No. 2016-0021 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
) 
LYNELL HUGHES, et al.,  
  
 
) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
) 
 
 
 
Defendants.  
 
) 
__________________________________________) 
 
Attorneys: 
Melissa P. Ortiz, Esq., 
St. Croix, U.S.V.I. 
 
For the United States 
 
Robert Millan, Esq., 
San Juan, PR 
For Defendant Lynell Hughes 
 
 
 
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER 
THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Defendant Lynell Hughes’ (“Defendant 
Hughes”) Motion for Compassionate Release Through Home Confinement (“Motion for 
Compassionate Release”) (Dkt. No. 1383), filed on January 26, 2022, in which Defendant Hughes 
requests that the Court grant her compassionate release in the form of home confinement. On 
December 17, 2021, the Court sentenced Defendant Hughes, inter alia, to nine months 
imprisonment and three years of supervised release, following her plea of guilty to Conspiracy to 
Defraud the United States. (Dkt. No. 1364 at 1-3). At her sentencing hearing, the Court granted 
Defendant Hughes’ Motion for Voluntary Surrender (Dkt. No. 1349), permitting her to self-
surrender on January 31, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. (Dkt. No. 1364 at 2). Thus, Defendant Hughes is 
scheduled to commence her sentence today, January 31, 2022. Under these circumstances, the 
Court must deny Defendant Hughes’ Motion for Compassionate Release as premature. 
Case: 1:16-cr-00021-WAL-GWC   Document #: 1389   Filed: 01/31/22   Page 1 of 2
2 
 
Under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A), “after the defendant has fully exhausted all 
administrative rights to appeal a failure of the Bureau of Prisons to bring a motion on the 
defendant’s behalf or the lapse of 30 days from the receipt of such a request by the warden of the 
defendant’s facility, whichever is earlier,” a defendant may make a motion to modify an imposed 
term of imprisonment. Thus, before criminal defendants can resort to the Court on a request for 
compassionate release, “defendants must at least ask the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to do so on their 
behalf and give BOP thirty days to respond.” United States v. Raia, 954 F.3d 594, 595 (3d Cir. 
2020) (citing 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)). Without satisfying the exhaustion requirement of the 
statute—which Defendant Hughes, whose term of imprisonment commenced today, obviously has 
not done—the Motion for Compassionate Release is premature. See id. at 596 (denying the 
defendant’s motion for compassionate release because the defendant did not give BOP thirty days 
to respond). 
In view of the foregoing, it is hereby 
ORDERED that Defendant Hughes’ Motion for Compassionate Release Through Home 
Confinement (Dkt. No. 1383) is DENIED WITHOUT PREJUDICE. 
 
SO ORDERED.  
Date: January 31, 2022 
 
 
 
 
________/s/________ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
WILMA A. LEWIS 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
District Judge 
Case: 1:16-cr-00021-WAL-GWC   Document #: 1389   Filed: 01/31/22   Page 2 of 2