Opinion
CRIMINAL 2:18-126
03-30-2022
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff, v. GLEN HARRY WESTHOEK, Defendant.
ORDER
NELVA GONZALES RAMOS, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Pending before the Court is Defendant Glen Harry Westhoek's letter motion seeking copies of his Statement of Reasons and Presentence Investigation Report. D.E. 35.
Assuming Defendant can establish that he is indigent, an indigent defendant has a statutory right to free court documents only when he can establish that the documents are necessary to decide an issue in a pending suit and that the suit is not frivolous. See 28 U.S.C. § 753(f); United States v. MacCollum, 426 U.S. 317 (1976). Defendant has nothing pending before the Court, other than the present motion, and he does not state why he needs his Statement of Reasons or Presentence Investigation Report, which are sealed. He also has not offered any reason why the Court should unseal his Statement of Reasons or Presentence Investigation Report. Accordingly, he fails to meet the statutory requirements for free documents. See 28 U.S.C. § 753(f); see also United States v. Herrera, 474 F.2d 1049, 1049-50 (5th Cir. 1974) ("This Court has consistently held that a federal prisoner is not entitled to obtain copies of court records at the government's expense to search for possible defects merely because he is indigent").
Defendant has not submitted an affidavit of indigency, nor any financial information concerning his prison account or his current financial condition. Because the Court resolves his motion on other grounds, it is not necessary to decide at this time whether Defendant is, in fact, indigent.
For the reasons stated above, Defendant's letter motion seeking copies of his Statement of Reasons and Presentence Investigation Report (D.E. 35) is DENIED.
So ORDERED.