Betts v. Javois

Filing 4

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that petitioner's motion to proceed in forma pauperis (Docket No. 2 ) is GRANTED, subject to modification by the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of Court shall transfer this case to the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.. Signed by District Judge John A. Ross on 1/18/17. (JAB)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION

LAWREN CE SHERRON BETTS,
Petitioner,
v.

LAURENT D. JAVOIS,
Respondent.

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No. 4:17-cv-215-NCC

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

This matter is before the Court on petitioner's motion to proceed in forma pauperis. The
Court will provisionally grant the motion. Additionally, the Court will transfer this case to the
United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
Petitioner has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
Therein, petitioner indicates that he is challenging a judgment of conviction entered by the 13th
Judicial Circuit of Missouri in Boone County, Missouri, which is located in the Western District
of Missouri. Petitioner identifies his present place of confinement as the Boone County Jail (also
located in the Western District) and also as the Metropolitan St. Louis Psychiatric Center, which
is located within this Federal judicial district.
Where an application for a writ of habeas corpus is made by a person in custody
under the judgment and sentence of a State court of a State which contains two or
more Federal judicial districts, the application may be filed in the district court for
the district wherein such person is in custody or in the district court for the district
within which the State court was held which convicted and sentenced him and
each of such district courts shall have concurrent jurisdiction to entertain the
application. The district court for the district wherein such an application is filed
in the exercise of its discretion and in furtherance of justice may transfer the
application to the other district court for hearing and determination.
28 U.S.C. § 224l(d).

While the face of the petition leaves it unclear whether petitioner is presently in custody
within this Federal judicial district, it is clear that the judgment and sentence he is challenging
arose in a State court that is within the Western District of Missouri. Therefore, this Court will
exercise its discretion to transfer the instant petition to the Western District of Missouri "in
furtherance of justice." Id
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that petitioner's motion to proceed in forma pauperis
(Docket No. 2) is GRANTED, subject to modification by the United States District Court for the
Western District of Missouri.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of Court shall transfer this case to the
United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.
Dated this 18th day of January, 2017.

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