Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caed-1_15-cv-01171/USCOURTS-caed-1_15-cv-01171-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Joe A. Lizarraga
Respondent
Brandon W. Rackliffe
Petitioner

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

BRANDON W. RACKLIFFE,

Petitioner,

vs.

JOE A. LIZARRAGA, Warden,

Respondent.

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Case No. CV 15-05096-CAS (DTB)

ORDER TRANSFERRING ACTION TO

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF

CALIFORNIA

Petitioner, a California state prisoner currently incarcerated at Mule Creek

State Prison in Ione, California, filed a counseled Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus

by a Person in State Custody herein on July 6, 2015.

The Petition purports to be directed to the legality of petitioner’s 2011

conviction sustained in Fresno County Superior Court. (Petition at 2.) 

Where a petition for writ of habeas corpusisfiled by a person in custody under

the judgment and sentence of a State court of a State such as California which

contains two or more Federal judicial districts, it may be filed in either 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). 

When a habeas petition is directed to the petitioner’s underlying conviction or

sentence, the district court for the district in which the petitioner was convicted and

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sentenced is a more convenient forum because of the accessibility of evidence,

records and witnesses. Thus, it generally is the practice of the district courts in

California to transfer habeas actions questioning state convictions/sentences to the

district in which the petitioner was convicted and sentenced. See Laue v. Nelson, 279

F. Supp. 265, 266 (N.D. Cal. 1968). 

Petitioner was convicted and sentenced in Fresno County, which is within the

jurisdictional boundaries of the Eastern District of California. See 28 U.S.C. § 84(b). 

Accordingly, the Petition was not properly filed in the Central District of California.

Therefore, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1404(a) and 2241(d), and in furtherance

of the interest of justice,

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

States District Court for the Eastern District of California.

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: _____________________

_______________________________

CHRISTINA A. SNYDER

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Presented by:

__________________________

David T. Bristow

United States Magistrate Judge

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