Johnson v. Director TDCJ - CID

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS TEXARKANA DIVISION RODERICK SHERROD JOHNSON §

VS. § CIVIL ACTION NO. 5:21cv54 DIRECTOR, TDCJ-CID § MEMORANDUM ORDER REGARDING TRANSFER Petitioner Roderick Johnson, an inmate confined at the Telford Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, proceeding pro se, filed this petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Discussion

Petitioner states he is currently serving a sentence he received on July 26, 2002 in cause number 767716D before the 371st District Court for Tarrant County, Texas. Petitioner challenges his conviction by asserting his appellate attorney suffered from a conflict of interest. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d), a petitioner may bring his petition for writ of habeas corpus in the district court for the district wherein such person is in custody or in the district court for the district within which he was convicted. Section 2241(d) further provides that the district court in the exercise of its discretion may transfer the action to the other district in the furtherance of justice. Petitioner is currently confined at the Telford Unit in New Boston, Texas. The Telford Unit

is located within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Eastern District of Texas. However, petitioner was convicted and sentenced in Tarrant County, Texas. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C § 124, Tarrant County is in the Fort Worth Division of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. While jurisdiction is proper in the Eastern District of Texas because the prisoner is confined within the district court’s territorial boundaries, the court has considered the circumstances and has determined that the interest of justice would best be served if this petition were transferred to the division in which the petitioner was convicted and sentenced.

Under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a), for the convenience of parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice, a district court may transfer any civil action to any other district or division where it could have been brought. Such a transfer may be done sua sponte and is reviewable only for an abuse of discretion. Mills v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 886 F.2d 758, 761 (5th Cir. 1989). Since petitioner complains of a conviction which occurred in the Fort Worth Division of the Northern District of Texas and all records and witnesses involving this action may be located in the Northern District, the transfer of this action to such division would further justice. Therefore, it is

the opinion of the undersigned that this petition should be transferred to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. Accordingly, it is ORDERED that the Clerk of Court will TRANSFER this action to the Clerk of Court for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division.