(PC) Acquah v. Baughman ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 KENNETH ALLAN ACQUAH, No. 2:19-cv-1470 JAM DB P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 DAVID BAUGHMAN, et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action. Plaintiff alleges 17 defendants used excessive force in violation of his Eighth Amendment rights. Plaintiff has 18 requested appointment of counsel. Plaintiff states he cannot afford counsel and has limited 19 knowledge of the law. Plaintiff also argues that it will be difficult to manage litigation while 20 incarcerated. 21 The United States Supreme Court has ruled that district courts lack authority to require 22 counsel to represent indigent prisoners in § 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 23 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In certain exceptional circumstances, the district court may request the 24 voluntary assistance of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 25 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 26 The test for exceptional circumstances requires the court to evaluate the plaintiff’s 27 likelihood of success on the merits and the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in 28 light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. See Wilborn v. Escalderon, 789 F.2d 1328, 1 1331 (9th Cir. 1986); Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983). Circumstances 2 common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 3 establish exceptional circumstances that would warrant a request for voluntary assistance of 4 counsel. In the present case, the court does not find the required exceptional circumstances. 5 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff’s motion for the appointment of 6 counsel (ECF No. 24) is denied. 7 DATED: March 30, 2020 8 9 /s/ DEBORAH BARNES 10 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DLB:9 DB/prisoner-civil rights/acqu1470.31 25 26 27 28