Opinion
CV418-038
04-25-2018
CHARLES CLARK, JR. Petitioner, v. VANCE LAUGHLIN, Warden, and STATE BOARD OF PAROLE AND PROBATION, Respondents.
ORDER
Charles Clark, Jr., who is detained at Wheeler Correctional Facility, attacks a Bibb County conviction and sentence for robbery by sudden snatching pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Doc. 1. It is not clear why he filed his petition in this Court's Savannah Division, as Wheeler County lies within the Court's Dublin Division, 28 U.S.C. § 90(c)(2), and Bibb County lies in the Middle District of Georgia, 28 U.S.C. 90(b)(2). Federal law allows his petition to be filed in the district within which he was convicted or in the district within which he is confined. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d); Wright v. Indiana, 263 F. App'x 794, 795 (11th Cir. 2008). Hence, this Court and the Middle District concurrently have jurisdiction to hear his case.
It is longstanding judicial policy and practice to funnel such petitions into the district within which the state prisoner was convicted, since that will be the most convenient forum. Mitchell v. Henderson, 432 F.2d 435, 436 (5th Cir. 1970); see Wright, 263 F. App'x at 795. That also fosters an equitable distribution of habeas cases between the districts. The Court therefore concludes that this case should be transferred to the Middle District. Hence, it DIRECTS the Clerk to transfer this case to the Middle District of Georgia for all further proceedings. See 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (permitting a district court to transfer any civil action to another district or division where it may have been brought for the convenience of parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice); Rufus v. Kemp, 2013 WL 2659983 at * 1 (S.D. Ga. June 12, 2013).
SO ORDERED, this 25th day of April, 2018.
/s/_________
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA