Early Termination Motion Granted in Recognition of
GENUINE REHABILITATION
Angela Liu, Jessica Seamands and Angela Hansen worked with AFPD Angela Hansen to file an early termination for a grandfather who embraced Christianity during his incarceration and changed his life. Our client was on supervision for 15 months, but had already spent over 10 years in federal prison.
Our client is a model of reform in many ways. He had finished his Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Ministries in 2019, and was now working on his Master’s in Divinity. In the future, he aspired towards ministry work. He completed the Laborer’s Union Apprenticeship Program quickly and was promoted recently. He also married his wife. Our client’s life had changed dramatically. We collected letters of support and encouragement from our client’s workplace and family to demonstrate the strength and dedication of his community.
His new life
Our motion had to overcome a few legal obstacles in order to be successful. Our client violated his terms of supervised release twice: by testing positive for marijuana, and by traveling outside of the state without permission. We stressed that his mistakes didn’t diminish the incredible achievements he had made, nor did it threaten public safety. We also had to refute the claim that our client did not suffer from “undue burden” while under supervision. To fight the uphill struggle for an early termination, our client’s honesty and dedication to self improvement were highlighted. Our client expressed his regret to the court for breaking his trust relationship with his probationary officer.
We asked the court to acknowledge that our client was beyond supervision, and already doing vital work in reintegration via his faith and family connections. Judge White was worried
Despite the fact that he was aware of the violations, he respected our client’s candor. He was also convinced that supervision was preventing our client’s progress. While our client wasn’t perfect, we convinced the judge that he had shown exceptional progress and didn’t need supervision. We celebrated with our client outside of court when the court approved early termination.
AN INVASIVE SEARCH BY THE POLICE FOLLOWED UP BY A DISMISSAL
Angela and Jessica represented a San Jose resident who was cited by a police officer for possessing pepper spray after a traffic stop. The man had been pulled over for driving without valid registration tags. The officer searched our client despite the fact that he had a valid license and documents proving ownership of the vehicle. Pepper spray was found after the officer lifted our client’s shirt. We filed a motion for suppression of evidence. We argued the officer’s search of our client was unjustified, his search illegally prolonged the stop and his search under the sweatshirt exceeded what was allowed. A plea agreement arranged by his public defender who represented him for another charge led to the case being dismissed before hearing.