Opinion
DA 24-0561
09-20-2024
STATE OF MONTANA, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. TYLER FREDERICK ERICKSON, Defendant and Appellant.
ORDER
Tyler Frederick Erickson moves this Court for appointment of counsel through the office of the Appellate Defender Division. As grounds, he states that he is indigent and unable to afford to retain private counsel.
Erickson appeals a July 23, 2024 Order denying his petition for postconviction . relief, issued in the Twentieth Judicial District Court, Lake County.
We observe that, in 2022, Erickson had counsel to represent him in an appeal of this criminal case. State v. Erickson, No. DA 22-0146, 2023 MT 57N, 2023 Mont. LEXIS 353 (Mar. 30, 2023).
While the District Court's Order is captioned and filed as Erickson's criminal case, postconviction relief is a civil proceeding. Section 46-21-201(1)(c), MCA. There is no right to the appointment of counsel in a postconviction proceeding for relief, although a court may order the assignment of counsel under the circumstances outlined in § 46-8-104, MCA. Erickson is not entitled to court-appointed counsel. He represented himself in the District Court. He has not demonstrated that extraordinary circumstances exist to justify appointment of counsel, pursuant to § 46-8-104(3), MCA. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that Erickson's Motion for Appointment of Counsel is DENIED.
The Clerk is directed to provide a copy of this Order to counsel of record and to Tyler Frederick Erickson along with a copy of this Court's Appellate Handbook.