(PC) Hampton v. Yuba County Jail ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 GARY G. HAMPTON, JR., No. 2:17-cv-2179 KJM AC P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 YUBA COUNTY JAIL, et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action, has requested 17 appointment of counsel. ECF No. 20. 18 The United States Supreme Court has ruled that district courts lack authority to require 19 counsel to represent indigent prisoners in § 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 20 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In certain exceptional circumstances, the district court may request the 21 voluntary assistance of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 22 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 23 The test for exceptional circumstances requires the court to evaluate the plaintiff’s 24 likelihood of success on the merits and the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in 25 light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. See Wilborn v. Escalderon, 789 F.2d 1328, 26 1331 (9th Cir. 1986); Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983). Circumstances 27 common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 28 //// 1 || establish exceptional circumstances that would warrant a request for voluntary assistance of 2 || counsel. 3 The circumstances plaintiff asserts are common to most prisoners. Moreover, despite 4 | plaintiffs ultimate assertion that mental illness greatly impedes his ability to represent himself, 5 | the record reflects that to date, plaintiff has been able to file adequate and comprehensible 6 || documents in this action. See, e.g., ECF Nos. 1, 12, 13 (original complaint, request for status, 7 | letter re: housing change, respectively). Therefore, in the present case, the court does not find the 8 || required exceptional circumstances. 9 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiffs motion for the appointment of 10 || counsel (ECF No. 20) is DENIED. 11 | DATED: March 31, 2020 ~ 12 Chthien—Chare ALLISON CLAIRE 13 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28