Inmate with asthma denied release from jail
A federal judge denied a man's request to be released from jail over coronavirus concerns while he awaits a possible life in prison sentence for his role in a 2017 robbery-turned-shooting in Cranberry Township.
Kahlil Shelton, 25, of Duquesne, pleaded guilty March 2 in federal court to shooting Octavio Marinello during an Aug. 7, 2018, robbery in Cranberry. According to court documents, Shelton and two other people stole several pounds of marijuana from Marinello, who survived the shooting.
Shelton was charged in September 2017. He is being held in the Allegheny County Jail awaiting his Aug. 10 sentencing.
His lawyer attempted to get him released by arguing in an April 7 filing that Shelton suffers from asthma, making him at higher-risk of “severe consequences” from the coronavirus if he were to get it.
So far, four inmates at the Pittsburgh jail tested positive for the coronavirus, according to court records in Shelton's case.
Federal Judge Arthur J. Schwab, who cited the virus figure, rejected Shelton's request. In denying the request, Schwab cites a New York Times article arguing there is no evidence supporting the idea people with asthma are more vulnerable to the virus.
Schwab also agreed with prosecutors that the county jail is a safer place for Shelton because it “may be” better equipped to handle coronavirus patients than medical facilities outside the jail.
In Schwab's order, the judge notes Shelton is one of many criminal defendants to come before him arguing COVID-19 is an exceptional circumstance that should allow them to be released while they await sentencing.
Shelton was originally charged along with Deron Howell, 27, of Swissvale. In August 2017, the pair of men and an unknown accomplice arranged to buy six pounds of marijuana at a house in Cranberry, but instead held the two drug dealers at gunpoint and stole it.
When one of the victims struggled and attempted to run from the house, the unknown third person shot him through the chest. A 6-year-old boy witnessed the shooting.
Howell was sentenced to more than 42 years in prison and is in the U.S. Federal Prison in Hazelton, a high-security penitentiary in West Virginia.
Shelton's defense attorney notes in the April 7 filing that Shelton pleaded guilty to a crime carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and because prosecutors are seeking a prison term in the case, Shelton doesn't qualify under the law for bail pending his sentencing.
In the request, Shelton's attorney, Michael DeMatt, asked the federal judge to waive this law and make an exception for Shelton until his Aug. 10 sentencing, citing Shelton's asthma as an “exceptional reason.”
“The current coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic constitutes an exceptional reason to place him on bond pending sentencing,” DeMatt writes in his argument.
Citing a number of findings about the COVID-19 pandemic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, DeMatt writes that if the solution to preventing the spread of the virus is through physical distancing, then a place like the Allegheny County Jail is unfit to meet the requirements.
“Individuals incarcerated are especially vulnerable to COVID-19 exposure, as such individuals are housed in close quarters and share showers, toilets and sinks,” DeMatt writes. “These individuals do not have access to sanitizer, gloves or masks.”
He also cites a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who concludes, “that individuals with asthma are at a heightened risk with respect to COVID-19.”
But Schwab rejected this argument, claiming the potential to catch the virus is present everywhere, not just the county jail. Schwab also claims officials have taken measures to reduce the spread of the virus.
“This Court and other local authorities have taken the necessary steps and precautions to help stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus amongst the population of Allegheny County, including those individuals detained in the (Allegheny County Jail.)”
Schwab also writes the rights of victims have to also be taken into consideration when considering Shelton's pretrial release and in this case the victims “have overwhelmingly explained that due to the violent nature of the crime committed by Defendant, they are fearful of his release.”
