Day: December 19, 2025

By Christiana Teodoro, PBI Intern In Fernandez v. United States, No. 24-556, the United States Supreme Court will resolve a circuit split as to whether there are limitations on what factors a federal judge may consider when granting a sentence reduction for “extraordinary and compelling reasons” under the statute governing compassionate release, 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A). In this case, Joe Fernandez was convicted for involvement in a murder-for-hire crime. Fernandez was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence on a murder conspiracy charge and to a consecutive life sentence on a firearm charge. Later, the same trial judge expressed “disquiet” about the