McClellon v. Jamison
- Vernon Broderick
- 1:24-cv-10053
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In McClellon v. Jamison, Judge Moses extended the objection deadline and denied McClellon’s request for volunteer counsel.
Donte McClellon received additional time, until December 15, 2025, to object to the report and recommendation, but his request for pro bono counsel was denied. The order did not finally resolve the habeas petition itself.
What happened
In Donte McClellon v. Jamal Jamison, McClellon asked for more time to object to a report recommending denial of his habeas petition and asked the court to provide a volunteer lawyer. His mail had been sent to several federal facilities after transfers, and he later said he was no longer in Bureau of Prisons custody.
The court extended the deadline for objections to December 15, 2025, explaining that the report might not have reached McClellon promptly. It denied his request for volunteer counsel because he had shown that he could litigate the petition himself and, for the reasons in the report, the court did not believe the petition was likely to succeed.
Judge Barbara Moses issued the order on November 24, 2025. The court directed the clerk to close the motion, while the report-and-recommendation objection deadline remained December 15, 2025.
The detailed version
- McClellon v. Jamison · No. 1:24-cv-10053
- Vernon Broderick
- Nov. 24, 2025
Background
Petitioner Donte McClellon filed a letter-application requesting two forms of relief: a 60-day extension of his time to object to Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses’s June 24, 2025 report and recommendation, which recommended denying his habeas petition, and the appointment of pro bono counsel. The opinion states that McClellon had been moved among several federal facilities. He later reported that he was no longer in Bureau of Prisons custody and asked that documents be mailed to him through the U.S. Probation Office in Seattle.
The court had previously extended McClellon’s objection deadline to November 24, 2025. Because a paper copy of the report and recommendation might not have reached him until after November 4, 2025, and the latest extension order might not have reached him, the court extended the deadline again, this time to December 15, 2025. The court stated that no further extensions would be granted absent compelling circumstances.
Request for Counsel
The court denied McClellon’s request for pro bono counsel. It explained that civil litigants do not have an automatic right to appointed counsel and that courts may only request that a volunteer attorney represent a litigant. The court also stated that volunteer representation should be requested sparingly.
In deciding whether to request counsel, the court considered factors including the apparent strength of the claims, the litigant’s ability to pay for private counsel, efforts to obtain a lawyer, the availability of counsel, and the litigant’s ability to handle the case without assistance. The court found that McClellon had already shown he could litigate his habeas petition without counsel. It also stated that, for the reasons given in the report and recommendation, it did not believe the petition was likely to succeed.
Ruling
Judge Barbara Moses extended McClellon’s deadline to object to the report and recommendation until December 15, 2025. The court denied the request for pro bono counsel and directed the clerk to close the motion at docket entry 38. The opinion does not state that the habeas petition itself was finally denied in this order; it refers to the earlier report and recommendation recommending denial.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.