(PC) Turner v. Guibord ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 9 10 ANTHONY DEWAYNE LEE TURNER, No. 2:19-cv-0416 DB P 11 Plaintiff, 12 v. ORDER 13 SACRAMENTO CITY FIRE DEPT., et al., 14 Defendants. 15 16 Plaintiff, a state prisoner proceeding pro se with a civil rights action, has requested 17 appointment of counsel on the grounds that he has a mental illness with a speech problem and 18 reading comprehension problem. 19 The United States Supreme Court has ruled that district courts lack authority to require 20 counsel to represent indigent prisoners in § 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 21 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In certain exceptional circumstances, the district court may request the 22 voluntary assistance of counsel pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1). Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 23 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332, 1335-36 (9th Cir. 1990). 24 The test for exceptional circumstances requires the court to evaluate the plaintiff’s 25 likelihood of success on the merits and the ability of the plaintiff to articulate his claims pro se in 26 light of the complexity of the legal issues involved. See Wilborn v. Escalderon, 789 F.2d 1328, 27 1331 (9th Cir. 1986); Weygandt v. Look, 718 F.2d 952, 954 (9th Cir. 1983). Circumstances 28 wOAOe 2 LDV EP VUE PIS Oe er AY eve 1 | common to most prisoners, such as lack of legal education and limited law library access, do not 2 | establish exceptional circumstances that would warrant a request for voluntary assistance of 3 | counsel. In the present case, the court does not find the required exceptional circumstances. In 4 | addition, while plaintiff contends that he is suffering from a mental illness and has a reading 5 | comprehension problem, he submits no documentation in support of these claims. 6 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff's motion for the appointment of 7 | counsel (ECF No. 18) is denied. 8 | Dated: August 25, 2020 9 10 sl oon ORAH BARNES tum0416.31 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28