McGee v. Salinas Valley State Prison
- Joseph Spero
- 3:24-cv-04177
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In McGee v. Salinas Valley State Prison, Judge Spero transferred McGee’s state-conviction petition to the Eastern District of California because Sacramento County was the conviction district.
Hawthorne McGee’s federal petition challenging his Sacramento County conviction was transferred from the Northern District of California to the Eastern District of California; the court’s order did not decide the petition’s merits.
What happened
McGee, a California prisoner proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition challenging the validity of his Sacramento County Superior Court conviction under a federal law allowing challenges to state convictions.
The court explained that such a petition may be filed where the prisoner is confined or where the conviction occurred, but California federal courts generally hear conviction challenges in the district of conviction. Sacramento County is in the Eastern District of California.
Judge Joseph C. Spero transferred the case to the Eastern District of California in the interest of justice. The court deferred McGee’s request to proceed without paying filing fees to that court and terminated the request from this court’s docket.
The detailed version
- McGee v. Salinas Valley State Prison · No. 3:24-cv-04177
- Joseph Spero
- July 16, 2024
Background
Hawthorne McGee, a California prisoner proceeding without an attorney, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging the validity of his conviction in Sacramento County Superior Court.
Venue and Transfer
The court explained that a state prisoner’s petition may be filed in either the federal district where the prisoner is confined or the federal district where the conviction occurred. Those districts have concurrent jurisdiction, meaning both may have authority to hear the petition, but the filing court may transfer the case to the other district in the interest of justice.
The court stated that federal courts in California traditionally hear petitions challenging a conviction or sentence in the district where the conviction occurred. Because McGee challenged his conviction, the court determined that the proper venue was the district covering Sacramento County, which is the Eastern District of California.
Ruling
The court transferred the case to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. It deferred McGee’s application to proceed without paying filing fees to that court, directed the Clerk to terminate that motion from this court’s docket, and ordered the matter transferred promptly. The court did not decide whether McGee’s conviction was valid or reach the merits of his petition.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.