Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 5:18cv37
03-14-2018
LAWRENCE SMITH v. DIRECTOR, TDCJ-CID
MEMORANDUM ORDER REGARDING TRANSFER
Petitioner Lawrence Smith, an inmate confined at the Telford Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, proceeding pro se, filed this petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
Discussion
On June 18, 2009, in the 71st Judicial District Court for Harrison County, Texas, petitioner was convicted of murder. Petitioner was sentenced to a term of sixty years' confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d), a petitioner may bring his petition for writ of habeas corpus in the district court for the district wherein such person is in custody or in the district court for the district within which he was convicted. Section 2241(d) further provides that the district court in the exercise of its discretion may transfer the action to the other district in the furtherance of justice.
Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 124, Harrison County is located in the Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas. Jurisdiction is proper in the Eastern District of Texas because the prisoner was originally convicted within the district court's territorial boundaries and is currently confined in this district. However, the petition was inadvertently filed in the Texarkana Division instead of the division in which petitioner was convicted, the Marshall Division. The Court has considered the circumstances and has determined that the interest of justice would best be served if this petition were transferred to the division in which the petitioner was convicted.
Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), for the convenience of parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it could have been brought. Such a transfer may be done sua sponte and is reviewable only for an abuse of discretion. Mills v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 886 F.2d 758, 761 (5th Cir. 1989).
Since petitioner complains of a conviction which occurred in Harrison County, all records involving this action most likely will be located in the Marshall Division. Thus, the transfer of this action to such division would further justice. Therefore, it is the opinion of the undersigned that this petition should be transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. An Order of Transfer so providing shall be entered in accordance with this Memorandum Opinion. SIGNED this 14th day of March, 2018.
/s/_________
CAROLINE M. CRAVEN
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE