Hayes v. Hutchings

Opinion

1 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 2 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 3 JAMES H. HAYES, Case No.: 2:21-cv-02267-APG-DJA

4 Petitioner Order 5 v.

6 WILLIAM HUTCHING, et al.,

7 Respondents.

8 9 Petitioner James H. Hayes moves for appointment of counsel. ECF No. 12. The 10 respondents do not oppose. ECF No. 13. In order to ensure due process, I grant the motion to 11 appoint counsel. 12 There is no constitutional right to appointed counsel for a federal habeas corpus 13 proceeding. Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551, 555 (1987); Bonin v. Vasquez, 999 F.2d 425, 14 428 (9th Cir.1993). The decision to appoint counsel is generally discretionary. Chaney v. Lewis, 15 801 F.2d 1191, 1196 (9th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1023 (1987); Bashor v. Risley, 730 16 F.2d 1228, 1234 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 838 (1984). However, counsel must be 17 appointed if the complexities of the case are such that denial of counsel would amount to a denial 18 of due process, and where the petitioner is a person of such limited education as to be incapable 19 of fairly presenting his claims. See Chaney, 801 F.2d at 1196; see also Hawkins v. Bennett, 423 20 F.2d 948 (8th Cir.1970). Here, the legal issues that Hayes seeks to raise are potentially complex. 21 Notably, the respondents filed a non-opposition to the appointment of counsel. I conclude that 22 counsel is warranted so I grant it. 23 1 I THEREFORE ORDER that the petitioner’s motion for appointment of counsel (ECF 2|| No. 12) is GRANTED. 3 I FURTHER ORDER that the Federal Public Defender for the District of Nevada (FPD) Allis appointed to represent the petitioner. 5 I FURTHER ORDER the Clerk of Court to ELECTRONICALLY SERVE the FPD a 6|| copy of this order, together with a copy of the petition for writ of habeas corpus (ECF Nos. 7, 8, The FPD has 30 days from the entry of this order to file a notice of appearance or to indicate 8|| to the court its inability to represent the petitioner in these proceedings. 9 I FURTHER ORDER that after counsel has appeared for the petitioner in this case, the court will issue a scheduling order, which will, among other things, set a deadline for the filing an amended petition. 12 Dated: April 1, 2022 13 U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23