Knox v. Workman

Filing 30

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION for 28 Report and Recommendation issued 06/29/12. Clerk directed to transfer this matter to the USDC for the ED/OK. Signed by Honorable Lee R. West on 07/17/12. (jy) [Transferred from okwd on 7/17/2012.]

FILED

JUL 172012

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR
THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA
ANTONE LAMANDINGO KNOX,
Petitioner,
vs.
RANDALL G. WORKMAN, Warden,
et al. ,
Respondents.

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X-.

ROBERT D.
CLERK
U.S. DIST. C.
WESTERN OIST. OF OKLA
BY
DEPUTY

Yt

No. CIV-12-508-W

ORDER
On June 29, 2012, United States Magistrate Judge Robert E. Bacharach issued a
Report and Recommendation in this matter and recommended that the matter be
transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
Petitioner Antone Lamandingo Knox was advised of his right to object, see Doc. 28 at 4,
and the matter now comes before the Court on Knox's Objection to Magistrate Judge's
Report and Recommendation. See Doc. 29.
A petition seeking a writ of habeas corpus under title 28, section 2241 of the United
States Code, such as Knox's Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus ("Petition"), as
amended, see Docs. 1,20, "'attacks the execution of a sentence rather than its validity and
must be filed in the [judicial] district where the prisoner is confined.'" Haugh v. Booker, 210
F.3d 1147, 1149 (10th Cir. 2000)(quoting Bradshaw v. Story, 86 F.3d 164, 166 (10th Cir.
1996». Knox is currently incarcerated in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, McAlester,
Oklahoma, which is located

withi~

the territorial jurisdiction of the Eastern District of

Oklahoma; consequently, this Court lacks jurisdiction over Knox's Petition.

"Jurisdictional defects that arise when a suit is filed in the wrong federal district may
be cured by transfer under the federal transfer statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1631, which requires
... [the C]ourt to transfer such an action 'if the transfer is in the interest of justice. III Haug h,
210 F.3d at 1150 (quotation omitted). This provision has been interpreted in this circuit to
provide this Court with discretion to determine whether to transfer the action or to dismiss
it without prejudice.~, Trujillo v. Williams, 465 F.3d 1210, 1222-23 (10th Cir. 2006).
Despite the objections lodged by Knox, the Court concurs with Magistrate Judge
Bacharach's finding that the interest of justice warrants a transfer of Knox's Petition.
Accordingly, the Court
(1) ADOPTS the Report and Recommendation [Doc. 28] issued on June 29, 2012;
and
(2) DIRECTS the Clerk of the Court to transfer this matter to the United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
ENTERED this

17t1t

day of July, 2012.

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