KEITH F. GIBLIN UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
MEMORANDUM OPINION REGARDING TRANSFER
Petitioner Duane Taylor, an inmate confined at the Cole Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Correctional Institutions Division, proceeding pro se, brings this petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254.
Discussion
Title 28 U.S.C. § 2254(a) allows a district court 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 is required to file his federal petition for writ of habeas corpus in either the district where the prisoner is incarcerated or the district where the prisoner was convicted and sentenced. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(d). Although both district courts have jurisdiction to entertain the application, "[t]he district court for the district wherein such an application is filed in the exercise of its discretion and in furtherance of justice may transfer the application to the other district court for hearing and determination." Id.
Petitioner filed this petition in the Beaumont Division of the Eastern District of Texas. However, petitioner was convicted and sentenced in Hopkins County, which is located in the Sherman Division.
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 where petitioner was convicted and sentenced. Therefore, the petition should be transferred to the Sherman Division of the Eastern District of Texas for hearing and determination. It is accordingly
ORDERED that this civil rights action is TRANSFERRED to the Sherman Division of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
SIGNED this the 1st day of October, 2018.
/s/_________
KEITH F. GIBLIN
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE