Opinion
CV418-273
11-20-2018
RANDALL YOUNG, Petitioner, v. EDWARD PHILBIN, Respondent.
ORDER
Randall Young is an inmate confined at Augusta State Medical Prison in Grovetown, Georgia, for crimes committed in Cobb County, Georgia. Doc. 1. He has filed a habeas petition pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254, challenging the state court's jurisdiction. Doc. 1.
He evidently chose to file his § 2254 petition in this judicial district because he is incarcerated in Columbia County. See 28 U.S.C. § 90(c)(1) (Augusta Division). He was convicted, however, in Cobb County, which lies within the Northern District of Georgia. 28 U.S.C. § 90(a)(2). A federal habeas petitioner is allowed to file his petition in either the district where he was convicted or in the district where he is confined. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d); Wright v. Indiana, 263 F. App'x 794, 795 (11th Cir. 2008). Hence, both this Court and the Northern District concurrently have jurisdiction to hear his case.
Nevertheless, it is longstanding judicial policy and practice to funnel such petitions into the district within which the state prisoner was convicted, since that will be the most convenient forum. Mitchell v. Henderson, 432 F.2d 435, 436 (5th Cir. 1970); see Wright, 263 F. App'x at 795. That practice also fosters an equitable distribution of habeas cases between the districts. This case is therefore TRANSFERRED to the Northern District of Georgia for all further proceedings. See 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (permitting a district court to transfer any civil action to another district or division where it may have been brought for the convenience of parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice); Rufus v. Kemp, 2013 WL 2659983 at * 1 (S.D. Ga. June 12, 2013).
SO ORDERED, this 20th day of November, 2018.
/s/_________
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA