Court filings show that New York federal judge Jed Rakoff has rejected the request of a 61-year-old toy merchant-turned Silk Road vendor for a compassionate release amid the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 10,000 New Yorkers.
Judge Rakoff found that the inmate had failed to present an "extraordinary and compelling" case for his release on April 13.
The former Silk Road vendor, Hugh Haney, had requested a temporary release on April 8. His representation, Martin Cohen, argued that the Manhattan Metropolitan Detention Center was on the verge of a severe COVID-19 outbreak asserting that only seven of 1,700 inmates had then been tested for coronavirus, three of which had been confirmed positive.
