Powers v. Covello

Background

Anthony Powers, a state prisoner incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison, filed a self-represented petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging a conviction from Napa County Superior Court. He asked the court to appoint an advisor to assist him and to extend the applicable court deadlines. Powers reported that the area where he was housed had been shut down for quarantine and that he did not have access to the prison law library.

Request for Counsel

The court treated Powers’s request for an advisor as a request for appointment of counsel. It explained that the Sixth Amendment right to a lawyer does not apply to habeas corpus actions, but that federal law allows a district court to appoint counsel when the interests of justice require it. The court found that appointment was not warranted at that time because the issues were not complex, Powers had presented his claims adequately, and he would presumably regain access to legal resources after the quarantine ended.

The court therefore denied the request for appointment of counsel without prejudice to the court appointing counsel on its own initiative if circumstances later required it.

Request for More Time and Disposition

The court interpreted Powers’s request to “extend to a later date” as a request to continue pending court deadlines. It denied that request as premature. The respondent’s answer to the order to show cause was due November 27, 2020. The court stated that Powers could request an extension later if, after receiving the answer, he needed more time to file his response, and that he should specify how much additional time he required.

Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. ordered that the motion was terminated. The order did not decide the merits of Powers’s underlying challenge to his conviction.