McLendon v. Laughlin

Filing 3

ORDER transferring the 1 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus filed by Jeffrey McLendon to the Middle District of Georgia for further proceedings. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 10/15/15. (wwp)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
JEFFREY MCLENDON,
Petitioner,
v.
WARDEN VANCE LAUGHLIN,
Respondent.

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Case No. CV415-152

ORDER
A Mitchell County, Georgia jury convicted petitioner Jeffrey
McLendon in October 2000 “of aggravated assault, kidnapping, and
possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.” McLendon v.
State, 258 Ga. App. 133, 133 (2002).

Following affirmance of his

conviction, he says he filed for state post-conviction relief in 2014, doc. 1 at
3, but does not say when in 2014 or when the state court denied relief. He
now petitions this Court for 28 U.S.C. § 2254 relief (doc. 1) and moves for
leave to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP). Doc. 2.
McLendon evidently filed his § 2254 petition in this judicial district
because he is incarcerated here. See Georgia Department of Corrections
Inmate

Locator,

http://www.dcor.state.ga.us/GDC/OffenderQuery/

(currently incarcerated at Wheeler Correctional Facility in Alamo, Georgia,
which is within the Dublin Division of the Southern District).

Mitchell

County, however, lies within the Middle District of Georgia, 28 U.S.C. §
90(b)(1), and 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).
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SO ORDERED, this 15th day of October, 2015.

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