Frank Owens v. Tim Severin

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ___________ No. 08-1973 ___________ Frank R. Owens, * * Appellant, * * Appeals from the United States v. * District Court for the * Southern District of Iowa. Tim Severin; John Ault; Jack Bates, * c/o; Donald Schbrenner; Darrell * [UNPUBLISHED] Moeller, * * Appellees. * ___________ Submitted: October 15, 2008 Filed: October 30, 2008 ___________ Before WOLLMAN, SMITH, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges. ___________ PER CURIAM. In these consolidated matters, we affirmed, or dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, all but one of the district court’s1 rulings, that being the denial of Owens’s motion for substitute counsel in No. 08-1973. We remanded that aspect of the appeal for a fuller explanation by the district court of the basis of its decision to deny that motion. See Owens v. Severin, Nos. 08-1418/1973/2110, slip op. (8th Cir. Sept. 18, 2008). 1 The Honorable Robert W. Pratt, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Having reviewed the district court’s promptly filed and fully explicated response to the remand, we conclude that the district court “exercised a reasoned and well-informed discretion” in denying the motion. See Slaughter v. City of Maplewood, 731 F.2d 587, 589 (8th Cir. 1984). Accordingly, we now affirm the denial of the motion for substitute counsel. ______________________________ -2-