Opinion
No. 10 C 5866.
October 14, 2010
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Ramon Pickens ("Pickens") has responded to this Court's brief September 20, 2010 memorandum order by filling out another Motion for Appointment of Counsel ("Motion"), in which he reflects his communication with John Howard Association in an effort to obtain counsel and goes on to say "I can't afford one." Although that presentation is really inadequate to show multiple attempts to get a lawyer, what is plain is that both this Court and Pickens' targeted defendants (Parole Agent Robert Moore and the Illinois Parole Review Board) will be better served if appointed counsel is in fact injected into the case to make some order out of Pickens' rambling narrative coupled with the often illegible exhibits attached to his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 Complaint.
Accordingly this Court has obtained the name of this member of the trial bar, who is appointed to represent Pickens pro bono publico:
Debra L. Bogo-Ernst
Mayer Brown LLP
71 South Wacker Drive
Chicago IL 60606
312-782-0600
In addition, the customary initial scheduling order is being issued contemporaneously with this memorandum order. In anticipation of the status hearing established by that order, appointed counsel is expected to make arrangements for service of process, to get in touch with Pickens and to prepare a more intelligible Amended Complaint.
It should be added that if counsel sees no predicate for the advancement of any viable Section 1983 claim on Pickens' behalf, she is free to file the civil equivalent of an Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 744 (1967) submission instead.
Date: October 14, 2010