The legal battle of convicted ex-drug trafficker Ángel Ayala Vázquez, alias 'Ángelo Millones’, to reduce his sentence and achieve release continues before the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, Massachusetts. A recent decision by the US Supreme Court has become a key piece in Ayala Vázquez’s appeal. The federal government argues that the ruling affects the arguments used by the convict to request a sentence reduction, while his lawyer, Edwin Javier Prado Galarza, claims that the decision does not resolve all pending issues.
The Supreme Court’s decision in Rutherford v. United States, issued on May 28, addressed when a subsequent change in sentencing laws can be considered to evaluate a request for sentence reduction through compassionate release. Ayala Vázquez requested a reduction of his life sentence to 30 years, and one of the arguments used by his defense is related to amendments approved to the federal sentencing law over the years.
The Supreme Court ruled that disparities in sentences caused by legislative changes do not constitute 'extraordinary and compelling reasons’ to justify a sentence reduction through compassionate release. The federal government argues that the sentence should be maintained, while Prado Galarza argued that the government overstepped by claiming that the ruling practically resolves the appeal.