Title: Fletcher v. Gorczyk

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

ENTRY ORDER

                       SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 92-367

                             NOVEMBER TERM, 1992


 Melvina Fletcher                  }          APPEALED FROM:
                                   }
                                   }
      v.                           }          District Court of Vermont,
                                   }          Unit No. 2, Chittenden Circuit
                                   }
 John Gorczyk                      }
                                   }          DOCKET NO. S973-92CnC


              In the above entitled cause the Clerk will enter:

      Plaintiff Melvina Fletcher, an inmate incarcerated at the Chittenden
 Community Correctional Center, appeals a superior court decision not to
 appoint counsel to represent her in a habeas corpus proceeding.  We reverse
 and remand.

      Plaintiff was convicted by jury for aggravated assault and two counts
 of simple assault and was sentenced to serve five to fifteen years in
 November 1991.  On June 17, 1992, plaintiff, representing herself, filed a
 writ of habeas corpus in the Chittenden Superior Court alleging violations
 of her statutory and constitutional rights.  She claims that, following an
 argument she had with another inmate, guards used excessive force against
 her, failed to investigate the incident, improperly segregated her, and
 added points to her record affecting her status as a prisoner.  In her
 petition, she requested that the superior court assign counsel to represent
 her and permit counsel to amend her petition.  On June 18, 1992, the Office
 of the Defender General informed the court that it could not represent
 plaintiff due to its "case load control policy."  As a result of the
 inability of the Defender General to handle the matter, the court denied
 plaintiff's motion to appoint counsel.  Plaintiff appeals this decision.

      Under 13 V.S.A. { 5231, "[a] needy person who . . . is being detained
 under a conviction of a serious crime, is entitled . . . [t]o be represented
 by an attorney to the same extent as a person having his [or her] own
 counsel."  Further, a needy person is entitled to such representation at all
 stages of those proceedings listed in 13 V.S.A. {{ 5232-5233, including
 "[h]abeas corpus and other proceedings wherein the person is confined in a
 penal or mental institution in this state and seeks release therefrom." 13
 V.S.A. { 5232(2).  If a person under conviction of a serious crime does not
 have an attorney and does not waive the right to have an attorney, the court
 must notify the appropriate public defender "upon commencement of any later
 judicial proceedings relating to the same matter."  13 V.S.A. { 5234(b).
 "If the public defender assigned to the court's jurisdiction is unable to
 represent the person, the court concerned shall assign an attorney to
 represent the person."  13 V.S.A. { 5272.

      In In re Morse, 138 Vt. 327,