Opinion
1:22-cv-01291-SAB-HC
10-12-2022
TIMOTHY SHAW, Petitioner, v. STEPHANIE CLANDENIN, Respondent.
ORDER TRANSFERRING CASE TO THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
Petitioner is civilly committed to Coalinga State Hospital and proceeding pro se with a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
The habeas statute provides in pertinent part:
Where an application for a writ of habeas corpus is made by a person in custody under the judgment and sentence of a State court of a State which contains two or more Federal judicial districts, the application may be filed in the district court for the district wherein such person is in custody or in the district court for the district within which the State court was held which convicted and sentenced him and each of such district courts shall have concurrent jurisdiction to entertain the application. The district court for the district wherein such an application is filed in the exercise of its discretion and in furtherance of justice may transfer the application to the other district court for hearing and determination.
28 U.S.C. § 2241(d). See also 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (court may transfer any civil action “to any other district or division where it might have been brought” for convenience of parties or “in the interest of justice”).
Petitions challenging the execution of a sentence are preferably heard in the district where the inmate is confined. See Dunne v. Henman, 875 F.2d 244, 249 (9th Cir. 1989). Petitions challenging convictions or sentences are preferably heard in the district of conviction. See Laue v. Nelson, 279 F.Supp. 265, 266 (N.D. Cal. 1968). Here, Petitioner challenges his civil commitment trial that was held in the Lake County Superior Court. (ECF No. 1 at 1.) Therefore, the petition is preferably heard in the district where the civil commitment took place. See Yahn v. King, No. C-13-0855 EMC (PR), 2016 WL 69899, at *5 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 6, 2016) (noting that the Northern District of California was the “proper venue because the petition concerns the civil commitment of a person that took place in Lake County, California, which is within this judicial district”).
Page numbers refer to the ECF page numbers stamped at the top of the page.
Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this action is transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
IT IS SO ORDERED.