Allen v. Davis

Filing 6

OPINION AND ORDER OF TRANSFER to Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division. (Signed by Magistrate Judge B Janice Ellington) Parties notified.(mserpa, 2) [Transferred from Texas Southern on 10/16/2017.]

United States District Court
Southern District of Texas

ENTERED
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
CORPUS CHRISTI DIVISION
DAVID LEE ALLEN,
Petitioner,
VS.
LORIE DAVIS,
Respondent.

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October 16, 2017
David J. Bradley, Clerk

CIVIL ACTION NO. 2:17-CV-310

OPINION AND ORDER OF TRANSFER
This is a habeas action filed by a state prisoner incarcerated at TDCJ-CID’s
William P. Clements Unit in Amarillo, Texas (D.E. 1). In 2012, Petitioner was sentenced
in the 25th District Court of Gonzales County to life in prison following his conviction
for aggravated sexual assault (Id.). Petitioner alleges his counsel was ineffective (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 Potter
County in the Northern District of Texas, 28 U.S.C. § 124(a)(5), and he was convicted by
a court located in the San Antonio Division of the Western District of Texas. 28 U.S.C. §
124(d)(4). It is not clear why Petitioner filed his petition in the Southern District of
Texas.
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 Gonzales 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, the prosecutor and defense
lawyer, and the witnesses are all located in the San Antonio Division of the Western
District of Texas.
Accordingly, it is ordered that the Clerk of the Court TRANSFER this action to
the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, San Antonio Division.
All pending motions are denied as moot, subject to re-urging after receipt and docketing
by the Clerk of the Western District of Texas.
ORDERED this 16th day of October, 2017.
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B. JANICE ELLINGTON
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

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