Opinion
CRIMINAL ACTION No. 16-192 SECTION I
10-01-2020
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. KEITH FOSTER
ORDER & REASONS
Defendant Keith Foster ("Foster") has filed a motion for compassionate release. Within the motion, Foster requests "immediate appointment of counsel[,]" citing "the interest of justice[.]" The Court construes this request as a motion for appointment of counsel, which it denies for the following reason.
R. Doc. No. 164.
Id. at 2. --------
I.
There is no constitutional right to appointed counsel in post-conviction proceedings. Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551, 555 (1987) ("[T]he right to appointed counsel extends to the first appeal of right, and no further."). In the context of 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) motions, which are analogous to Foster's compassionate release motions pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(1)(A)(i), "the Fifth Circuit has held that defendants have no statutory or constitutional right to counsel." United States v. Joseph, No. 15-307, 2020 WL 3128845, at *1 (E.D. La. June 12, 2020) (Vance, J.) (citing United States v. Whitebird, 55 F.3d 1007, 1011 (5th Cir. 1995); United States v. Moore, 400 F. App'x 851, 852 (5th Cir. 2010) (per curiam)).
"Although a defendant in a § 3582(c) motion does not have a statutory or constitutional right to appointment of counsel, the Court may appoint counsel in the interest of justice." United States v. Mogan, No. 14-040, 2020 WL 2558216, at *4 n.29 (E.D. La. May 20, 2020) (Morgan, J.) (quoting United States v. Rodriguez, No. 10-17, 2015 WL 13664966, at *2 (S.D. Tex. Aug. 20, 2015) (citing United States v. Robinson, 542 F.3d 1045, 1051-52 (5th Cir. 2008))); see also 18 U.S.C. § 3006A(a)(2) (allowing appointment of counsel under certain circumstances when "the court determines that the interests of justice so require"). The interests of justice do not require that counsel be appointed where a "[defendant's] . . . motion d[oes] not involve complicated or unresolved issues." See Moore, 400 F. App'x at 852 (addressing a § 3582(c)(2) motion on appeal).
The interests of justice do not require that the Court appoint counsel for Foster. The motion at issue is not complex. See United States v. Drayton, No. 10-20018, 2020 WL 2572402, at *1 (D. Kan. May 21, 2020) ("[A] claim for compassionate release is not particularly complex factually or legally.").
II.
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that Foster's motion for the appointment of counsel is DENIED.
New Orleans, Louisiana, October 1, 2020.
/s/ _________
LANCE M. AFRICK
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE