Johnson v. Williams et al

Filing 4

ORDER Transferring Case to the Middle District ofGeorgia for all further proceedings. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 1/23/17. (jlm)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
LYNDON B. JOHNSON, Jr.,
Petitioner,
CV417-011

v.
DOUG WILLIAMS,
Respondent.

ORDER
Lyndon Johnson is a prisoner housed at the Smith State Prison in
Tatnall County, Georgia, for crimes committed in Dougherty 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, inter alia, ineffective assistance of
counsel in his state criminal trial and appeal. Doc. 1.
He evidently chose to file his § 2254 petition in this judicial district
because he is incarcerated in Tattnall County. See 28 U.S.C. § 90(c)(6)
(Statesboro division). He was convicted, however, in Dougherty County,
which lies within the Middle District of Georgia. See 28 U.S.C. § 90(b)(5)
(Dougherty County is in the Albany Division of the Middle District). A
federal habeas petitioner is allowed to file his petition in either the

district where he was convicted or in the district where he is confined.
28 U.S.C. § 2241(d); Wright v. Indiana , 263 F. App’x 794, 795 (11th Cir.
2008). Hence, both this Court and the Middle District concurrently have
jurisdiction to hear his case.
Nevertheless, 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 practice also fosters an equitable distribution of habeas cases
between the districts.
This case is therefore TRANSFERRED to the Middle District of
Georgia for all further proceedings.

See 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a); Rufus v.

Kemp , 2013 WL 2659983 at * 1 (S.D. Ga. June 12, 2013).
SO ORDERED, this 23rd day of January, 2017.

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

2