Wunderli v. United States of America

Filing 6

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that movant's motion for appointment of counsel Doc. # 3 is DENIED without prejudice. Signed by District Judge John A. Ross on 10/28/14. (ARL)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
MARK WUNDERLI,
Movant,
v.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Respondent.

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No. 4:14-CV-1765-JAR

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
Movant, a federal prisoner, seeks a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, on
the grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel. This matter is before the Court on movant’s
motion for appointment of counsel. [Doc #3]. The motion will be denied.
There is no constitutional or statutory right to appointed counsel in civil cases. Nelson v.
Redfield Lithograph Printing, 728 F.2d 1003, 1004 (8th Cir. 1984). In determining whether to
appoint counsel, the Court considers several factors, including (1) whether the plaintiff has
presented non-frivolous allegations supporting his or her prayer for relief; (2) whether the plaintiff
will substantially benefit from the appointment of counsel; (3) whether there is a need to further
investigate and present the facts related to the plaintiff's allegations; and (4) whether the factual
and legal issues presented by the action are complex. See Johnson v. Williams, 788 F.2d 1319,
1322-23 (8th Cir. 1986); Nelson, 728 F.2d at 1005.
After considering these factors, the Court finds that the appointment of counsel is not
warranted at this time. The only ground movant raises for appointing counsel is that, after paying
his trial counsel, he is now destitute and unable to retain counsel. The claims and underlying facts
of this case are relatively straight forward and do not involve any complex legal issues.
Moreover, based on movant’s presentation of the issues in his petition, he seems quite capable of
litigating this action on his own. Therefore, his motion for appointment of counsel will be denied.

Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that movant’s motion for appointment of counsel [Doc. #3]
is DENIED without prejudice.
Dated this 28th day of October, 2014.

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JOHN A. ROSS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE