Casiano-Fernandez v. Folino et al

Filing 6

MEMORANDUM (Order to follow as separate docket entry).Signed by Honorable Matthew W. Brann on 10/3/14. (km)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
ABIMAEL CASIANO-FERNANDEZ, :
:
Petitioner
:
:
v.
:
:
LOUIS FOLINO,
:
:
Respondent
:

CIVIL NO. 4:CV-14-1785
(Judge Brann)

MEMORANDUM
October 3, 2014
Background
Abimael Casiano-Fernandez, an inmate presently confined at the Greene
State Correctional Institution, Waybesburg, Pennsylvania (SCI-Greene), filed this
pro se habeas corpus petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Named as
Respondent is SCI-Greene Superintendent Louis Folino. Accompanying the
Petition is an in forma pauperis application which will be granted for the sole
purpose of the filing of this action with this Court. Service of the Petition has not
yet been ordered.
According to the Petition, Casiano-Fernandez was convicted of first degree
murder on July 22, 2005 following a jury trial in the Court of Common Pleas of

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Berks County, Pennsylvania. See Doc. 2, p. 2. He was sentenced on September
19, 2005 to a term of life imprisonment. See id.

Petitioner’s pending action

asserts that he is entitled to federal habeas corpus relief on the basis that he
received ineffective assistance of counsel.
Discussion
A § 2254 habeas corpus petition may be filed in the district where the
applicant is confined or in the district where he was convicted. Fletcher v. Rozum,
2008 WL 2609826 * 2 (E.D. Pa. 2008). 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d) provides:
(d) 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.
Casiano-Fernandez is presently confined at SCI-Greene which is located
within the confines of the United States District Court for the Western District of
Pennsylvania. Petitioner is attacking the legality of a guilty plea which was
entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County, which is located within
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the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania. See 28 U.S.C. § 118.
As noted above, under § 2241(d), the district court for the district in which a
habeas petition is filed “in the exercise of its discretion and in furtherance of
justice may transfer the application.” Moreover, 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) states, “[f]or
the convenience of parties and witnesses, in the interest of justice, a district court
may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it might have
been brought.” A district court may transfer a habeas petition pursuant to §
1404(a). See In re Nwanze, 242 F.3d 521, 526, n. 2 (3d Cir. 2001)(§ 1404(a)
applies to transfers of habeas corpus petitions); Fletcher, 2008 WL 2609826 at * 2.

Since the trial court, as well as any records, witnesses and counsel, are
located within the United States District Court for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania, it would be prudent to transfer this action to the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania. An appropriate Order will enter.
BY THE COURT:
s/ Matthew W. Brann
Matthew W. Brann
United States District Judge

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