CHIEF Judge Ramona V. Manglona of the District Court for the NMI has denied the request of Leyda I. Ada for a modification of sentence and compassionate early release due to the Covid-19 pandemic and personal health issues.
Judge Manglona denied the request without prejudice. “Once Ada has exhausted her administrative remedies she may move the court for compassionate release,” the judge added.
She said Ada must still provide evidence to the court, including medical records and other supporting documents, so that “the court may adequately determine whether extraordinary and compelling reasons warrant a reduction in her sentencing.”
Ada, who was convicted of perjury, is serving a 27-month prison term at Dublin Satellite Prison Camp in California.
She is scheduled to be released on July 1, 2021.
In her letter dated Dec. 30, 2020 Ada told the court that she believed that she is qualified for compassionate release.
Ada sent a similar request to the Dublin prison warden who denied it, saying that her concern about being potentially exposed to or possibly contracting the Covid-19 “does not warrant an early release from your sentence.”
Judge Manglona said the warden’s denial letter indicates to Ada that if she is not satisfied with the response, she “may commence an appeal of this decision via the administrative remedy process by submitting [her] concerns on the appropriate form (BP-9) within 20 days of the receipt of this response.”
Ada includes no evidence of her submitting any administrative appeal or receiving any denial on her appeal, the judge said.
“Rather, 12 days after the warden issued a decision denying her request for a reduction in sentence based on concerns about Covid-19, Ada skipped the administrative appeal process and came straight to this court in moving for compassionate release,” the judge added.
Given her failure to exhaust administrative remedies, specifically the administrative appeal process, the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain her motion, the judge said.
Ada’s husband, Melvin, was convicted of embezzlement, money laundering and fraud for illegally obtaining more than $1.7 million in seven years.
Mr. Ada, a former medical supply specialist at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, is serving 12.7 years in a federal prison after pleading guilty to 56 charges of misappropriating and diverting CNMI treasury checks amounting to over $1.7 million.
Mrs. Ada worked as a sales representative for Midwest Medical Supply Co. Inc., which supplied equipment to the Commonwealth Health Center.
She was accused of involvement in her husband’s scheme, but a jury acquitted her of conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering. However, the jury found her guilty of perjury.
On April 19, 2016, Judge Manglona sentenced Mrs. Ada to 27 months of imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release. Mrs. Ada appealed.
On July 9, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed Mrs. Ada’s conviction of perjury.
