United States District Court, M.D. Alabama, Northern Division
RECOMMENDATION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE
CHARLES S, COODY UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
Petitioner Daniel Eric Cobble is an inmate incarcerated in
the Sumter County Jail in Americus, Georgia. He styles his
pro se petition, which is filled with rambling and
disjointed “claims, ” as one for habeas relief
under “sec. 2254 not a 2255.” See Doc. #
1 at 1. The court finds the petition to be largely
unintelligible.[1] However, to the extent Cobble appears to
challenge matters associated with his conviction and sentence
by a state court in Georgia, this court finds his petition is
due to be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
I.
DISCUSSION
Title
28 U.S.C. § 2241(d) provides:
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.
28
U.S.C. § 2241(d). By this statute, a petition for writ
of habeas corpus under § 2254 must be filed either in
the federal district court for the district of the state
court of conviction or the federal district court in the
district of incarceration in that state.
Cobble
is incarcerated in the Sumter County Jail in Americus,
Georgia, a facility located within the jurisdiction of the
United States District Court for the Middle District of
Georgia. Cobble's Georgia convictions were entered by
state courts in Cobb County, Georgia and Wilcox County,
Georgia. Cobb County is located within the jurisdiction of
the United States District Court for the Northern District of
Georgia. Wilcox County is located within the jurisdiction of
the United States District Court for the Middle District of
Georgia. This court, which sits in the Middle District of
Alabama, lacks jurisdiction over Cobble's habeas
petition.
Under
28 U.S.C. § 1631, a court that finds it lacks
jurisdiction to entertain a civil action may, if it is in the
interest of justice, transfer such action to any other court
in which the action could have been brought when it was
filed. However, the undersigned finds that the interest of
justice does not warrant transfer of this case to a federal
district court in Georgia.[2] Instead, the petition should be
dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
II.
CONCLUSION
Accordingly,
it is the RECOMMENDATION of the Magistrate Judge this case be
DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction.
It is
ORDERED that Cobble's application for leave to proceed
in forma pauperis (Doc. # 2) is GRANTED.
It is
further
ORDERED
that the parties shall file any objections to this
Recommendation on or before December 6, 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.
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