On July 23, 2020, Judge Lewis J. Liman of the Southern District of New York granted compassionate release to Carter Ledyard client Rita Gluzman, a 71-year-old federal inmate who had been incarcerated for nearly a quarter century. In 1997, a jury convicted Ms. Gluzman of violating the Violence Against Women Act for conspiracy to commit, and the actual commission of, the interstate domestic violence murder of her husband, Yakov Gluzman. Judge Barrington D. Parker, then of the Southern District of New York, sentenced Ms. Gluzman to life in prison under the then mandatory sentencing guidelines. In granting Ms. Gluzman’s motion for compassionate release, Judge Liman found that Ms. Gluzman’s medical condition, age, and other circumstances—specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic and Ms. Gluzman’s exemplary conduct while incarcerated—weighed in favor of a sentence modification.
The Government subsequently moved for reconsideration of Judge Liman’s July 23, 2020 order, arguing that the Court overlooked certain factual and legal issues in granting Ms. Gluzman’s motion for compassionate release. Judge Liman denied the Government’s motion for reconsideration, finding that the Court already considered and rejected most of the Government’s arguments. To the extend the Government’s motion for reconsideration raised anything new, Judge Liman concluded that it would not have led to a different outcome even if it had been argued earlier.
Ms. Gluzman was represented by Alan S. Lewis, partner and co-chair of the firm’s Internal Investigations and White Collar Defense practice, with assistance from Sarah H. Ganley, an associate in Carter Ledyard’s Litigation and Disputes practice.