Esparza v. Stephens

Filing 5

OPINION AND ORDER TO TRANSFER CASE to WDTX - San Antonio Division (Signed by Judge Hilda G Tagle) Parties notified.(lcayce, 2) [Transferred from Texas Southern on 6/23/2015.]

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI DIVISION
ESPARZA,
JUAN RAMON ESPARZA,
Petitioner,
Petitioner,
v.
STEPHENS,
WILLIAM STEPHENS,
Respondent.
Respondent.

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2:15-CVCIVIL NO. 2:15-CV-275

OPINION AND ORDER OF TRANSFER
This is a habeas action filed on June 18, 2015, by a state prisoner
incarcerated at the Chaise Field Trustee Camp in Beeville, Texas, which is located
in Bee County. (DE 1). In his complaint, Petitioner challenges his July 26, 2011
Frio County conviction and sentence. (DE 1).
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 the Corpus Christi Division of the Southern District of Texas, 28
U.S.C. § 124(b)(6), and he was convicted by a court located in Frio County in the
San Antonio Division of the Western District of Texas. 28 U.S.C. § 124(d)(4).
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. 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. §
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2241(d). Because petitioner was convicted in Frio County, it is more convenient and
would further the interests of justice for this action to be handled in the San
Antonio Division of the Western District of Texas. The records of his conviction and
the prosecutor and defense lawyers are all located in the San Antonio Division of
the Western District of Texas.
Accordingly, it is ordered that this case be transferred to the United States
District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division.

SIGNED this 22nd day of June, 2015.

___________________________________
Hilda Tagle
Senior United States District Judge

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