United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division
RECOMMENDATION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE
STEPHEN M. DOYLE UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE.
I.
INTRODUCTION
State
inmate Ronnie Fagan brought this action on February 26, 2019,
as a petition for writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C.
§ 2241. (Doc. 1). Fagan is incarcerated at Bullock
Correctional Facility in Union Springs, Alabama under a
50-year sentence imposed in 1981 by the Circuit Court of
Lawrence County upon his conviction for first-degree rape. He
seeks immediate release from prison, arguing his confinement
violates the Double Jeopardy Clause because his first trial
on the rape charge ended in a mistrial, which he says barred
the subsequent retrial that ended with his conviction and
50-year sentence. As this Court stated in a previous order
(Doc. 2), Fagan's habeas petition should be treated as
one seeking relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 because the
exclusive remedy for an inmate challenging the
constitutionality of a state court judgment forming the basis
of his custody is to file a habeas corpus petition under
§ 2254.[1] See Cook v. Baker, 139 Fed.Appx.
167, 169 (11th Cir. 2005); Thomas v. Crosby, 371
F.3d 782, 787 (11th Cir. 2004). For the reasons that follow,
the Magistrate Judge concludes that Fagan's case should
be transferred to the United States District Court for the
Northern District of Alabama.
II.
DISCUSSION
Fagan
challenges his 1981 Lawrence County conviction for
first-degree rape and his resulting 50-year sentence. As
noted above, such a challenge is proper only by petition for
writ of habeas corpus under 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Although
this court has jurisdiction over Fagan's habeas petition
due to his confinement at Bullock Correctional Facility,
[2] 28
U.S.C. § 2241(d) provides that where two federal
districts within a state have jurisdiction by virtue of,
respectively, the place of the petitioner's confinement
and the place of his conviction, the court where the petition
was filed may “in the exercise of its discretion and in
furtherance of justice . . . transfer the application to the
other district court for hearing and
determination.”[3] See, e.g., Johnson v.
Myers, 2016 WL 2849456, at *2 (M.D. Ala. 2016). Lawrence
County is located in the Northern District of Alabama. See 28
U.S.C. § 81(a)(2). Because the records and witnesses
relating to the Fagan's conviction are likely located in
that district, this court finds that the furtherance of
justice and judicial economy will be best served by
transferring this case to the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Alabama for review and
disposition.
III.
CONCLUSION
Accordingly,
it is the RECOMMENDATION of the Magistrate Judge that this
case be TRANSFERRED to the United States District Court for
the Northern District of Alabama under 28 U.S.C. §
2241(d). It is further
ORDERED
that the parties shall file any objections to this
Recommendation on or before April 19, 2019. A party must
specifically identify the factual findings and legal
conclusions in the Recommendation to which objection is made;
frivolous, conclusive, or general objections will not be
considered. Failure to file written objections to the
Magistrate Judge's findings and recommendations under the
provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1) shall bar a party
from a de novo determination by the District Court of legal
and factual issues covered in the Recommendation and waives
the right of the party to challenge on appeal the District
Court's order based on unobjected-to factual and legal
conclusions accepted or adopted by the District Court except
upon grounds of plain error or manifest injustice.
Nettles v. Wainwright, 677 F.2d 404 (5th Cir. 1982);
11th Cir. R. 3-1. See Stein v. Lanning Securities,
Inc., 667 F.2d 33 (11th Cir. 1982). See also Bonner
v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206 (11th Cir. 1981) (en
banc), adopting as binding precedent all decisions of the
former Fifth Circuit handed down prior to the close of
business on September 30, 1981.
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Notes:
[1] Fagan claims he is entitled to seek
habeas relief through a § 2241 petition and is not
subject to § 2254 because he is a “pretrial
detainee.” See Doc. 1 at 2; Doc. 3 at 1-2. In
this regard, he argues that his conviction and sentence are
invalid and therefore cannot be deemed the basis of his
confinement. Doc. 3 at1-6. This of course begs the question
of the invalidity of his conviction and sentence, which have
not been found to be invalid by any court the undersigned is
aware of and are clearly the basis of his confinement in
state prison. Notwithstanding his claim to the contrary,
Fagan is not a pretrial detainee-and he is in custody
pursuant to a state court judgment. His remedy is under
§ 2254.
[2] The Bullock Correctional Facility is
in Union Springs in Bullock County, Alabama, which is located
in the Middles District of Alabama. See 28 U.S.C.
§ 81(b)(1).
[3] Section § 2241(d) states:
Where an application for a writ of habeas corpus is
made by a person in custody under the judgment and sentence
of a State court of a State which contains two or more
Federal judicial districts, the application may be filed in
the district court for the district wherein such person is in
custody or in the district court for the district within
which the State court was held which convicted and sentenced
him and each of such district courts shall have concurrent
jurisdiction to entertain the application. The district court
for the district wherein such an application is filed in the
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