IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Gregory Dunbar, :

Appellant :

:

v. :

:

Superintendent Kauffman : No. 1004 C.D. 2021

SCI Huntingdon : Submitted: December 9, 2022

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PER CURIAM FILED: February 22, 2023

Gregory Dunbar (Dunbar) appeals pro se from the Huntingdon County 

Common Pleas Court’s (Huntingdon County Common Pleas) May 21, 2021 order 

transferring his Petition for Emergency Writ of Habeas Corpus (Petition) to the 

Dauphin County Common Pleas Court (Dauphin County Common Pleas). The sole 

issue before this Court is whether the Huntingdon County Common Pleas properly 

transferred the Petition to the Dauphin County Common Pleas.

1

 After review, this 

Court affirms.

1 Dunbar presents three issues in his “Statement of Questions:” (1) whether the Huntingdon 

County Common Pleas unlawfully transferred his Petition to the Dauphin County Common Pleas

in bad faith; (2) whether the Huntingdon County Common Pleas knowingly violated Dunbar’s 

federal and state rights to access the courts; and (3) whether the Huntingdon County Common 

Pleas complied with Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 240, Pa.R.Civ.P. 240, as this Court 

directed on December 13, 2021. Dunbar Br. at 5. However, because Dunbar appealed from the 

Huntingdon County Common Pleas’ transfer order, the issue as stated by this Court is the only 

issue properly before this Court.
2

On or about February 21, 2020, Dunbar was charged with nine counts 

of Retaliation Against a Prosecutor or Judicial Official2and one count of Barratry3

originating out of Dauphin County. At that time, Dunbar was an inmate at State 

Correctional Institution (SCI)-Greene. On March 30, 2021, Dunbar was transferred

from SCI-Greene to SCI-Huntingdon. On April 29, 2021, Dunbar filed the Petition 

in the Huntingdon County Common Pleas. On May 21, 2021, the Huntingdon 

County Common Pleas entered an order directing the transfer of the Petition to the 

Dauphin County Common Pleas. Thereafter, Dunbar filed in the Huntingdon 

County Common Pleas a Notice of Appeal to the Pennsylvania Superior Court

(Notice of Appeal). On June 9, 2021, the Dauphin County Common Pleas received 

the Petition and the Notice of Appeal.4 On August 3, 2021, the Pennsylvania 

Superior Court transferred the appeal to this Court.

By December 13, 2021 Memorandum and Order, this Court remanded 

the matter to the Dauphin County Common Pleas and directed the Dauphin County 

Common Pleas’ Clerk of Courts to return the file transferred from the Huntingdon 

County Common Pleas, including Dunbar’s Notice of Appeal from the Huntingdon 

County Common Pleas’ May 21, 2021 order, to the Huntingdon County Common 

Pleas Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts for appropriate action. This Court further 

directed that the Huntingdon County Common Pleas’ Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts 

enter Dunbar’s Notice of Appeal upon the docket and transmit the Notice of Appeal 

to this Court in accordance with Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure (Rule) 

2

18 Pa.C.S. § 4953.1(a) (“A person commits an offense if he harms or attempts to harm 

another or the tangible property of another by any unlawful act in retaliation for anything lawfully 

done in the official capacity of a prosecutor or judicial official.”).

3

18 Pa.C.S. § 5109 (“A person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree if he vexes 

others with unjust and vexatious suits.”).

4 On June 23, 2021, the Dauphin County Common Pleas ordered Dunbar to file a concise 

statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 

(Rule) 1925(b) (Rule 1925(b) Statement). On July 6, 2021, Dunbar filed his Rule 1925(b) 

Statement. 
3

905(b).5 On March 21, 2022, the Huntingdon County Common Pleas filed its 

opinion pursuant to Rule 1925(a) (Rule 1925(a) Opinion). On March 25, 2022, this 

Court received the Huntingdon County Common Pleas’ record. On September 2, 

2022, SCI-Huntingdon Superintendent Kevin Kauffman filed a notice of nonparticipation in this appeal.6

The Huntingdon County Common Pleas determined that since the

Petition arose from Dunbar’s Dauphin County Common Pleas criminal case (Docket 

No. CP-22-CR-0000873-2020), the Huntingdon County Common Pleas was not the 

proper venue for the Petition, and transfer to the Dauphin County Common Pleas 

was appropriate. See Rule 1925(a) Opinion at 1.

Initially, Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 108 (relating to 

habeas corpus venue) provides, in relevant part:

(A) A petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging the 

legality of the petitioner’s detention or confinement in a 

criminal matter shall be filed with the clerk of courts of the 

judicial district in which the order directing the 

petitioner’s detention or confinement was entered.

. . . .

Comment: . . . .

. . . . A petition misfiled in the wrong judicial district under 

this rule may be transferred to the proper judicial district 

pursuant to Section 5103[(a)] of the Judicial Code, 42 

Pa.C.S. § 5103(a) [(relating to the transfer of erroneously 

filed matters generally)].

5 Pa.R.A.P. 905(b) (relating to transmission to the appellate court).

6 On September 6, 2022, Dunbar filed a “Motion for Summary Relief Res Judicata-Bar

Application for Relief” (Application for Relief). By September 16, 2022 Order, this Court directed 

that the Application for Relief be decided with the merits of this appeal. On December 8, 2022, 

Dunbar filed a “Petition for Reconsideration and Rule to Show Cause why this Court in Bad Faith 

Disregard[ed] its own Precedent on Nov[ember] 22, 2022[,] and Dec[ember] 13, 2021[,] and 

Request to Correct the Record” (Petition for Reconsideration). By January 9, 2023 Order, this 

Court denied the Petition for Reconsideration. 
4

Pa.R.Crim.P. 108.

In his Petition, Dunbar alleged that his March 30, 2021 transfer from 

SCI-Greene to SCI-Huntingdon was illegal because all transfers were stayed 

pending his video hearing at SCI-Greene on his Dauphin County criminal charges

(Docket No. CP-22-CR-0000873-2020) scheduled to occur on April 12, 2021. See 

Petition ¶ 1; Original Record (O.R.) at 201-202.7 Dunbar further averred that his 

continued confinement is unlawful because there is no complaint or arrest warrant 

in his prison file. See Petition ¶¶ 5-6; O.R. at 203. Finally, Dunbar claimed that he 

was released from custody on docket number MJ-12104-CR-0000869-2019.8 See 

Petition ¶ 7; O.R. at 203. 

Because the Dauphin County Common Pleas directed “[Dunbar’s] 

detention or confinement” on the criminal charges at issue, the Dauphin County

Common Pleas is the proper habeas corpus venue. Pa.R.Crim.P. 108(A). 

Accordingly, the Huntingdon County Common Pleas “transferred [the Petition] to 

the proper judicial district pursuant to Section 5103 of the Judicial Code[.]” Id.

comment. 

For all of the above reasons, the Huntingdon County Common Pleas’ 

order is affirmed.9

7 Because the Original Record pages are not numbered, the page numbers referenced herein 

reflect electronic pagination. 

8 Docket No. MJ-12104-CR-0000869-2019 indicates the same Dauphin County Common 

Pleas charges, i.e., nine counts of Retaliation Against a Prosecutor or Judicial Official and one 

count of Barratry, were dismissed by a magisterial district judge on February 23, 2020. See O.R. 

at 119-121. 

9 Given this Court’s disposition of the appeal, Dunbar’s Application for Relief is dismissed 

as moot.
IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Gregory Dunbar, :

Appellant :

:

v. :

:

Superintendent Kauffman : No. 1004 C.D. 2021

SCI Huntingdon :

PER CURIAM

O R D E R

AND NOW, this 22nd day of February, 2023, the Huntingdon County 

Common Pleas Court’s May 21, 2021 order is AFFIRMED. Gregory Dunbar’s 

“Motion for Summary Relief Res Judicata-Bar Application for Relief” is 

DISMISSED as moot.