Meertins v. New York State Supreme Court

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

CLAYTON MARK ANTHONY MEERTINS, JR.,

Plaintiff,

Civil Action No. 24-03546 (AHA)

v.

NEW YORK STATE SUPREME COURT, Defendant.

Memorandum Opinion

Plaintiff Clayton Meertins has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C.

§ 2254. ECF No. 1. The petition appears to challenge Meertins’ state-court conviction in Queens County, which is located in the Eastern District of New York. Id. at 1. Section 2254 authorizes federal courts to “entertain an application for a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court only on the ground that he is in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States.” 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a). A state prisoner may file a § 2254 petition “in the district court for the district wherein such person is in custody or in the district court for the district [where] the State court was held which convicted and sentenced him.” Id. § 2241(d).

Meertins’ petition is not properly filed in this Court because he neither is in custody nor was convicted or sentenced in this District. In the interests of justice, the Court will exercise its discretion to transfer this matter to the Eastern District of New York, where the state court of conviction is located. See id. (contemplating transfer to the proper district); Stone v. Nevada, No. CV 22-214, 2022 WL 741868, at *1 (D.D.C. Mar. 1, 2022) (exercising such discretion in similar

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circumstances). The Court notes that Meertins has a similar case, previously transferred from the Southern District of New York, pending in that district. See Meertins v. N.Y. State Corr. & Cmty. Supervision, No. 24-cv-06740-LDH-LB (E.D.N.Y.).

A separate order of transfer accompanies this memorandum opinion.

SO ORDERED.

AMIR H. ALI

United States District Judge

Date: January 6, 2025