Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-almd-2_16-cv-00564/USCOURTS-almd-2_16-cv-00564-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 28:2254 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (State)

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IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA

NORTHERN DIVISION

VANDRICK LAVONNE THOMAS, # 148503, )

 )

Petitioner, )

 )

v. ) Civil Action No. 2:16cv564-MHT 

 ) (WO)

DEWAYNE ESTES, et al., )

 )

Respondents. )

RECOMMENDATION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE

Petitioner Vandrick Lavonne Thomas (“Thomas”), a state inmate at St. Clair Correctional 

Facility, in Springville, Alabama, filed this pro se petition on July 6, 2016, seeking habeas corpus 

relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Doc. 1. In the petition, Thomas challenges the validity of his 1997 

conviction for first-degree robbery obtained in the Circuit Court of Baldwin County, Alabama. 

Doc. 1 at 1.

DISCUSSION

Title 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d) provides, in pertinent part:

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.

28 U.S.C. § 2241(d). Thus, petitions for writ of habeas corpus brought under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 

may be filed either in the federal district court for the district of the state court of conviction or the 

federal district court in the district of incarceration.

Thomas was convicted in Baldwin County, Alabama, and is incarcerated at the St. Clair 

Correctional Facility. Baldwin County falls within the Southern District of Alabama. The St. 

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Clair Correctional Facility is in St. Clair County, Alabama, and falls within the Northern District 

of Alabama. Because neither Thomas’s place of conviction nor his place of incarceration falls 

within the Middle District of Alabama, this court does not have jurisdiction to entertain his § 2254 

petition.

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1631, a court that finds it lacks jurisdiction to entertain a civil action 

may, if it is in the interest of justice, transfer such action to any other court in which the action 

could have been brought when it was filed. Because Thomas is proceeding pro se and seeks habeas 

corpus relief from a conviction entered by Circuit Court of Baldwin County, the court believes it 

would be in the interest of justice to transfer this case to the United States District Court for the 

Southern District of Alabama under § 1631.

CONCLUSION

Accordingly, it is the RECOMMENDATION of the Magistrate Judge that this case be 

TRANSFERRED to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama under 

28 U.S.C. § 1631.

The Clerk of the Court is DIRECTED to file the Recommendation of the Magistrate Judge 

and to serve a copy on the petitioner. The petitioner is DIRECTED to file any objections to this 

Recommendation on or before July 28, 2016. Any objections filed must specifically identify the 

factual findings and legal conclusions in the Magistrate Judge’s Recommendation to which the 

petitioner objects. Frivolous, conclusive or general objections will not be considered by the 

District Court.

Failure to file written objections to the proposed findings and recommendations in the 

Magistrate Judge’s report shall bar a party from a de novo determination by the District Court of 

factual findings and legal issues covered in the report and shall “waive the right to challenge on 

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appeal the district court’s order based on unobjected-to factual and legal conclusions” except upon 

grounds of plain error if necessary in the interests of justice. 11th Cir. R. 3-1; see Resolution Trust 

Co. v. Hallmark Builders, Inc., 996 F.2d 1144, 1149 (11th Cir. 1993); Henley v. Johnson, 885 F.2d 

790, 794 (11th Cir. 1989).

DONE, this 14th day of July, 2016.

 /s/ Gray M. Borden 

UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 

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