Kelley v. Davis

Filing 6

OPINION AND ORDER OF TRANSFER to United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Victoria Division. (Signed by Magistrate Judge B Janice Ellington) Parties notified.(mserpa, 2)

United States District Court
Southern District of Texas

ENTERED
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI DIVISION
EVERETT KELLEY III,
Petitioner,
VS.
LORI DAVIS,
Respondent.

July 26, 2016
David J. Bradley, Clerk

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§ CIVIL ACTION NO. 2:16-CV-314
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OPINION AND ORDER OF TRANSFER
This is a habeas action filed by a state prisoner incarcerated at TDCJ-CID’s Stiles
Unit in Beaumont, Texas (D.E. 1). Petitioner challenges a 2013 unspecified felony
conviction and life sentence imposed by the 24th Judicial District Court of Jackson
County, Texas (Id.).
A habeas action may be filed either in the district where petitioner is in custody or
in the district in which petitioner was convicted. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d); Wadsworth v.
Johnson, 235 F.3d 959 (5th Cir. 2000). Petitioner’s place of incarceration is in Jefferson
County, in the Beaumont Division of the Eastern District of Texas, 28 U.S.C. § 124(c)(2),
and he was convicted by a court located in the Victoria Division of the Southern District
of Texas. 28 U.S.C. § 124(b)(5). His case has no apparent connection to the Corpus
Christi Division.
For 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.

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28 U.S.C. §§ 1404(a) and 1406(a).

A habeas application may be

transferred in furtherance of justice to the district court within which the State court was
held which convicted and sentenced the petitioner. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d). Because
petitioner was convicted in Victoria County, it is more convenient and would further the
interests of justice for this action to be handled in the Victoria Division of the Southern
District of Texas. The records of his conviction, the prosecutor and defense lawyer, and
the witnesses are all located in the Victoria Division of the Southern District of Texas.
Accordingly, it is ordered that the Clerk of the Court TRANSFER this action to
the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Victoria Division. All
pending motions are denied as moot and subject to renewal after the case is transferred.
ORDERED this 26th day of July, 2016.
___________________________________
B. JANICE ELLINGTON
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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