Cancer Compassionate Release
Cancer Compassionate Release Granted!
April 8, 2021
United States v. Perkins
United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Monroe Division
2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67260
Cancer diagnosis leads to compassionate release
Robert Perkins (granted cancer compassionate release) was charged in a two-count indictment with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and on May 27, 2020, was sentenced to 156 months of imprisonment and 5 years of supervised release.
Perkins was diagnosed with colon cancer in January of 2021. That same month, a CT scan revealed that his cancer had metastasized to his liver and lung. He made a request for compassionate release due to this extreme health situation and grim prognosis. The court agreed that metastatic cancer qualifies as an “extraordinary and compelling reason” for release and further found that Perkins’s age (59) and poor health lessen any risk to public safety connected to his release. Therefore, Perkins’s request for compassionate release was approved.
