Williams v. Jones

• Court: District Court, S.D. Georgia
• Decided: May 28, 2025
• Docket: 4:25-cv-00124
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA SAVANNAH DIVISION

OCTAVIOUS WILLIAMS, ) ) Petitioner, ) ) v. ) CV425-124 ) DESHAWN JONES, ) ) Respondent. )

ORDER

Octavious Williams has filed a 28 U.S.C. § 2254 Petition challenging a 2001 conviction in Dougherty County, Georgia. See doc. 1 at 2-3. He has also moved to proceed in forma pauperis. Doc. 2. As explained below, this Court is not the proper venue for his Petition. The Court will, therefore, transfer it. Further proceedings concerning Williams’ Motion will be addressed by the transferee court. Federal law allows § 2254 petitions to be filed in the district within which the petitioner was convicted or in the district within which he is confined. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d); Wright v. Indiana, 263 F. App’x 794, 795 (11th Cir. 2008). Williams’ Petition indicates that he is incarcerated at

1 Augusta State Medical Prison. Doc. 1 at 1. It further reveals that he was convicted in Dougherty County, Georgia. Id. at 2-3. Thus, this

Court has jurisdiction over the petition. 1 Nevertheless, it is a longstanding judicial policy and practice to funnel such petitions into the district within which the state prisoner was convicted, since that will be

the most convenient forum. Eagle v. Linahan, 279 F.3d 926, 933 n. 9 (11th Cir. 2001); see also Mitchell v. Henderson, 432 F.2d 435, 436 (5th Cir. 1970); Wright, 263 F. App’x at 795. That practice also fosters an

equitable distribution of habeas cases between the districts. Dougherty County lies in the Middle District of Georgia. See 28 U.S.C. § 90(b)(5). Accordingly, this case is TRANSFERRED to the United States District

Court for the Middle District of Georgia for all further proceedings. See 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) (permitting a district court to transfer any civil action to another district or division where it may have been brought for the

1 Augusta State Medical Prison is located in this Court’s Augusta Division. See 28 U.S.C. § 90(c)(1). Since this Order transfers the case to the Middle District of Georgia, whether it was filed in the proper division within the Southern District is moot.

2 convenience of parties and witnesses and in the interest of justice); Rufus

v. Kemp, 2013 WL 2659983 at * 1 (S.D. Ga. June 12, 20138). SO ORDERED, this 28th day of May, 2025. ( Angho~d. liad Christopher L. Ray United States Magistrate Judge Southern District of Georgia