Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_07-cv-01371/USCOURTS-casd-3_07-cv-01371-0/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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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

MICHAEL R. HORTON, JR., Civil No. 07cv1371-BEN (NLS)

Petitioner,

ORDER TRANSFERRING ACTION

TO UNITED STATES DISTRICT

COURT FOR THE CENTRAL

DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA,

WESTERN DIVISION

vs.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF

CALIFORNIA,

Respondent.

Petitioner, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, has filed a petition for a writ of habeas

corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Petitioner challenges a conviction from the Los Angeles

County Superior Court. In accordance with the practice of district courts in California, the Court

transfers the Petition to the United States District Court for the Central District of California,

Western Division. 

A petition for writ of habeas corpus may be filed in the United States District Court of

the judicial district in which the petitioner is presently confined or the judicial district in which

he was convicted and sentenced. See 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d); Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit

Court, 410 U.S. 484, 497 (1973). Petitioner here attacks a conviction suffered in the Los

Angeles County Superior Court. (Pet. at 2.) That court is located in Los Angeles County, which

is within the jurisdictional boundaries of the United States District Court for the Central District

of California, Western Division. See 28 U.S.C. § 84(c)(2). Petitioner is presently confined at

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the California Correctional Institution at Tehachapi, California. That prison is located within

the jurisdictional boundaries of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of

California. See 28 U.S.C. § 84(b). Jurisdiction over this Petition thus exists in the Central

District, Western Division, and in the Northern District. See 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d). 

Although this Court does not have jurisdiction over the action, “[u]nder a provision of the

Federal Courts Improvement Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1631, if a court finds that there is a want of

jurisdiction the court shall transfer the action to any other such court in which the action could

have been brought ‘if it is in the interest of justice.’” Miller v. Hambrick, 905 F.2d 259, 262 (9th

Cir. 1990) (citing In re McCauley, 814 F.2d 1350, 1351-52 (9th Cir. 1987)). The Ninth Circuit

has held that transferring a habeas corpus proceeding to a district with proper jurisdiction will

be in the interest of justice because normally dismissal of an action that could be brought

elsewhere is “time-consuming and justice-defeating.” Miller, 905 F.2d at 262 (quoting

Goldlawr, Inc. v. Heiman, 369 U.S. 463, 467 (1962). Therefore, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631,

this Court may transfer this proceeding to a district with proper jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.

§ 2241(d). It is generally the practice of the district courts in California to transfer habeas

actions challenging a state conviction to the district in which a petitioner was convicted. Any

and all records, witnesses and evidence necessary for the resolution of a petitioner’s contentions

are more readily available in that district. See Braden, 410 U.S. at 497, 499 n.15; Laue v.

Nelson, 279 F. Supp. 265, 266 (N.D. Cal. 1968). In this case, that district is the Central District

of California, Western Division. Therefore, in the furtherance of justice,

IT IS ORDERED that the Clerk of this Court transfer this matter to the United States

District Court for the Central District of California, Western Division. See 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d).

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of this Court serve a copy of this Order

upon Petitioner and upon the California Attorney General.

DATED: July 30, 2007

Hon. Roger T. Benitez

United States District Judge

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