Opinion
3:19-CR-11-1
10-13-2021
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. BRANDON LAWRENCE
ORDER
DEBRA M. BROWN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
On September 16, 2020, this Court sentenced Brandon Lawrence to 292 months imprisonment on Counts One and Three of the Indictment, to be served concurrently. Doc. #391. On or about February 10, 2021, Lawrence filed a motion requesting “copies of the Transcripts of his Plea Colloquy and Sentencing Hearings.” Doc. #584. Lawrence represents that “[t]hese documents are needed in order to be able to properly file a pleading … under the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 2255” and argues that, because he “was pursuant to forma pauperis appointed Counsel for his defense [and] [h]is indigence status has not changed, ” “the fee for the production of these transcripts should be waived due to his indigence status.” Id. at 1.
Lawrence and thirteen others were charged in a 17-count indictment with various crimes related to a drug trafficking conspiracy. Doc. #1. Following Lawrence's guilty plea to Counts One and Three, the remaining counts naming him were dismissed. Doc. #391 at 1.
Though Lawrence was appointed counsel on March 28, 2019, after then demonstrating his financial eligibility for such appointment, see Doc. #43, he has not established his current financial status. And to the extent he seeks the transcripts to support the claim in his later-filed § 2255 motion that his attorney failed to comply with his request to file an appeal, see Doc. #643, Lawrence does not explain, and the Court does not see, how the transcripts of his plea and sentencing hearings would bear on the attorney-client privileged communications at issue in his § 2255 motion. Accordingly, not only is the Court unable to conclude that Lawrence is currently financially unable to pay transcript costs, Lawrence has not demonstrated how the transcripts are essential to his § 2255 motion. See United States v. Davis, 369 Fed.Appx. 546, 547 (5th Cir. 2010) (prisoner was not entitled to transcripts where he failed to “explain why the requested transcripts were necessary to decide” issues in his § 2255 motion). For these reasons, Lawrence's motion for transcripts [584] is DENIED.
See generally 28 U.S.C. § 1915.
Lawrence has also failed to submit the proper transcript request form.
SO ORDERED.