Sprinkle v. Robinson, et al

Filing 177

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Edmund F. Brennan on 9/11/2017 DENYING 176 Request for Appointment of Counsel. (Henshaw, R)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MARK WAYNE SPRINKLE, 12 Plaintiff, 13 14 No. 2:02-cv-1563-JAM-EFB P v. ORDER LEON ROBINSON, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding without counsel in an action brought under 42 17 18 U.S.C. § 1983. He requests that the court appoint counsel. District courts lack authority to 19 require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States 20 Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an 21 attorney to voluntarily to represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. 22 Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th 23 Cir. 1990). When determining whether “exceptional circumstances” exist, the court must 24 consider the likelihood of success on the merits as well as the ability of the plaintiff to articulate 25 his claims pro se in light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. Palmer v. Valdez, 560 26 F.3d 965, 970 (9th Cir. 2009). Having considered those factors, the court finds there are no 27 exceptional circumstances in this case. 28 ///// 1 1 The court previously appointed counsel to brief plaintiff’s position on the impact of Heck 2 v. Humphrey on plaintiff’s claim. ECF No. 159. That briefing concerned a complex legal issue 3 warranting the appointment of counsel. The issue has been resolved by the court, and thus the 4 exceptional circumstances justifying counsel’s appointment are no longer present. Plaintiff’s lack 5 of training in the law, incarceration, and unexplained medical and mental health issues do not 6 constitute exceptional circumstances. See Lowe v. Dep’t of Corr., No. CIV S-06-1623 LKK DAD 7 P, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76929, at *8-10 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 1, 2007) (“Circumstances common to 8 most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not establish 9 exceptional circumstances that would warrant a request for voluntary assistance of counsel.”). 10 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff’s request for appointment of 11 counsel (ECF No. 176) is denied. 12 DATED: September 11, 2017. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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