COPELAND v. CAPOZZA et al

Filing 3

MEMORANDUM OPINION & ORDER re 2 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus filed by LINWOOD CHESTER COPELAND transferring petition to the U.S.D.C. for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Signed by Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell on 03/09/2015. (Mitchell, Robert)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
LINWOOD CHESTER COPELAND, LC-1693
Petitioner,

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) 2:15-cv-301
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v.
WARDEN M ARK CAPOZZA, et al.,

MEMORANDUM and ORDER
Mitchell, M.J.:
Linwood Chester Copeland, an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh
has presented a petition for a writ of habeas corpus which he has been granted leave to prosecute
in forma pauperis. For the reasons set forth below, the petition will be transferred forthwith to the
United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Copeland is presented incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh
serving a 2 ½ to 5 year sentence imposed following his conviction in the Court of Common Pleas
of Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
It is provided in 28 U.S.C. '2241(d) that:
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.
While the petitioner is in custody in the Western District of Pennsylvania, the trial court
which sentenced him is located in Dauphin County, which is located in the Middle District of
Pennsylvania. It, therefore, would appear that the interests of justice would best be served by
transferring the petition to the United States District Court for the Middle District of
Pennsylvania.
An appropriate Order will be entered.
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ORDER
AND NOW, this 9th day of March, 2015 for the reasons set forth in the foregoing
Memorandum, IT IS ORDERED that the above captioned case be transferred forthwith to the
United States District Court of the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
s/ Robert C. Mitchell
United States Magistrate Judge

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