Criminal Procedure — right to counsel

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Criminal Procedure — right to counsel

The court has no authority to appoint, at public expense, an attorney to represent a defendant seeking a lower sentence under 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2).

“The Criminal Justice Act does not supply the necessary permission to pay a lawyer from the public fisc. It says that a court must appoint counsel for an indigent criminal defendant when the sixth amendment so requires, see §3006A(a)(1)(H), and may appoint counsel to pursue relief under 28 U.S.C. §§ 2241, 2254, or 2255, see §3006A(a)(2)(B), but neither subparagraph applies to a motion under §3582. It is not part of a criminal prosecution or a form of collateral attack, so prisoners who seek lower sentences following retroactive changes to the Guidelines do not receive counsel at public expense. United States v. Forman, 553 F.3d 585, 590 (7th Cir. 2009). Moran has not offered us any reason to overrule that decision. The motion for appointment of counsel is denied.”

Affirmed.

12-2699 U.S. v. Foster

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Kendall, J., Easterbrook, J.