Hayes v. Hutching

Full title: JAMES H. HAYES, Petitioner v. WILLIAM HUTCHING, et al., Respondents.

Court: United States District Court, District of Nevada

Date published: Apr 1, 2022

2:21-cv-02267-APG-DJA (D. Nev. Apr. 1, 2022)

Opinion

2:21-cv-02267-APG-DJA

04-01-2022

JAMES H. HAYES, Petitioner v. WILLIAM HUTCHING, et al., Respondents.

Andrew P. Gordon, U.S. District Judge

ORDER

Andrew P. Gordon, U.S. District Judge

Petitioner James H. Hayes moves for appointment of counsel. ECF No. 12. The respondents do not oppose. ECF No. 13. In order to ensure due process, I grant the motion to appoint counsel.

There is no constitutional right to appointed counsel for a federal habeas corpus proceeding. Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551, 555 (1987); Bonin v. Vasquez, 999 F.2d 425, 428 (9^th Cir.1993). The decision to appoint counsel is generally discretionary. Chaney v. Lewis, 801 F.2d 1191, 1196 (9^th Cir.1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1023 (1987); Bashor v. Risley, 730 F.2d 1228, 1234 (9^th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 838 (1984). However, counsel must be appointed if the complexities of the case are such that denial of counsel would amount to a denial of due process, and where the petitioner is a person of such limited education as to be incapable of fairly presenting his claims. See Chaney, 801 F.2d at 1196; see also Hawkins v. Bennett, 423 F.2d 948 (8^th Cir.1970). Here, the legal issues that Hayes seeks to raise are potentially complex. Notably, the respondents filed a non-opposition to the appointment of counsel. I conclude that counsel is warranted so I grant it.

I THEREFORE ORDER that the petitioner's motion for appointment of counsel (ECF No. 12) is GRANTED.

I FURTHER ORDER that the Federal Public Defender for the District of Nevada (FPD) is appointed to represent the petitioner.

I FURTHER ORDER the Clerk of Court to ELECTRONICALLY SERVE the FPD a copy of this order, together with a copy of the petition for writ of habeas corpus (ECF Nos. 7, 8, 9). The FPD has 30 days from the entry of this order to file a notice of appearance or to indicate to the court its inability to represent the petitioner in these proceedings.

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 of an amended petition.