Melendrez v. Gilbert

Filing 32

ORDER granting Petitioner's 28 Motion to Withdraw Attorney. The Court allows Petitioner to proceed pro se. Signed by Hon. Brian A Tsuchida. (TH) (cc: Petitioner via USPS)

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1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 6 7 8 VINCENT PAUL MELENDREZ, Petitioner, 9 10 11 v. MARGARET GILBERT, Respondent. 12 13 14 15 CASE NO. C17-984-RAJ-BAT ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO TERMINATE APPOINTMENT OF COUNSEL AND ALLOWING PETITIONER TO PROCEED PRO SE Petitioner in this federal habeas corpus action moves to terminate the appointment of counsel and asks to proceed pro se. Dkt. 28. Petitioner’s motion is GRANTED. By order dated July 11, 2016, the Court directed service of the petition and appointed the 16 Federal Public Defender as counsel for petitioner. Dkt. 7. Petitioner did not object to the 17 appointment at the time and elected to proceed. Petitioner now indicates he is dissatisfied with 18 appointed counsel’s representation. However, there is no right to appointed counsel in cases 19 brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 unless an evidentiary hearing is required or such appointment is 20 necessary for the effective utilization of discovery procedures. See McCleskey v. Zant, 499 U.S. 21 467, 495 (1991); United States v. Duarte-Higareda, 68 F.3d 369, 370 (9th Cir. 1995); United 22 States v. Angelone, 894 F.2d 1129, 1130 (9th Cir. 1990); Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 23 (9th Cir. 1983). ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO TERMINATE appointment of counsel and allowing petitioner to proceed pro se - 1 1 Accordingly, as petitioner has no right to appointed counsel, the Court GRANTS 2 petitioner’s motion to terminate appointed counsel in this action and allows him to proceed pro 3 se. (Dkt. 28). To the extent petitioner’s motion seeks to have new counsel appointed that request 4 is denied. 5 6 DATED this 28th day of February, 2019. 7 A 8 BRIAN A. TSUCHIDA United States Magistrate Judge 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO TERMINATE appointment of counsel and allowing petitioner to proceed pro se - 2

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