HOPKINS v. FORD

Filing 3

ORDER transferring the 1 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus filed by Rodney Gene Hopkins to the Middle District of Georgia. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 1/19/17. (wwp) [Transferred from gasd on 1/19/2017.]

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
RODNEY GENE HOPKINS,
Petitioner,
CV417-004

v.
BENJAMIN FORD, Warden,
Respondent.

ORDER
Rodney Hopkins is a prisoner housed at the Calhoun State Prison
in Morgan County, Georgia, for crimes committed in Morgan County,
Georgia. Doc. 1; see Georgia Department of Corrections Inmate Locator,
http://www.dcor.state.ga.us/ GDC/OffenderQuery/. He has filed a
petition for writ of habeas corpus, alleging there was insufficient
evidence proffered at trial to sustain his conviction for child molestation
and statutory rape. Doc. 1 at 1-8.
It is unclear why he chose to file his § 2254 petition in this judicial
district, since he was convicted and is incarcerated in the Middle District
of Georgia. See 28 U.S.C. § 90(b)(1) (Morgan County is in the Athens
Division of the Middle District). In fact, a docket search of that district
reveals at least one habeas proceeding already in progress.

See Hopkins

v. Strayberry , No. 3:16-cv-031 (challenging his same Morgan County
conviction for child molestation and statutory rape). The Southern
District of Georgia has no jurisdiction over Hopkins’ duplicative habeas
challenge. This case is therefore TRANSFERRED 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 19th day of January, 2017.

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTI-IER}'T DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

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