Pendergrass v. Pulaski State Prison

Filing 3

ORDER Transferring Case to the Northern District of Georgia. Signed by Magistrate Judge G. R. Smith on 1/30/17. (jlm)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

: u o 1 V 1J C13 12
ROBBIE MAY PENDERGRASS,
Petitioner,
CV417-017
PULASKI STATE PRISON,
Respondent.

ORDER
Robbie Pendergrass is a prisoner housed at the Pulaski State
Prison in Pulaski County, Georgia, for crimes committed in Floyd
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, seeking review of his state court
murder conviction and habeas proceedings. Doc. 1 at 1-8.
It is unclear why he chose to file his § 2254 petition in this judicial
district, since he was convicted in the Northern District of Georgia and is
incarcerated in the Middle District of Georgia. See 28 U.S.C. H 90(a)(3)
(Floyd County is in the Rome Division of the Northern District), (b)(1)
(Morgan County is in the Athens Division of the Middle District). The
Southern District of Georgia has no jurisdiction over Pendergrass'

habeas challenge. This case is therefore TRANSFERRED to the
Northern 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 30th day of January, 2017.

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

1

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 the Northern
and Middle Districts concurrently have jurisdiction to hear his case. It is, however,
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. The Northern District of Georgia is therefore the appropriate
district to hear Pendergrass' case.
2