Lees v. Arce
- Jacquelyn Corley
- 3:24-cv-08129
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Lees v. Arce, Judge Corley transferred Alexander Lees’s state-conviction habeas petition to the Eastern District of California because Solano County is there.
Alexander Lees’s petition was transferred from the Northern District of California to the Eastern District of California; the opinion does not decide whether his conviction is valid.
What happened
In Lees v. Arce, Alexander Lees, a California prisoner without a lawyer, filed a petition challenging his Solano County Superior Court conviction.
The court explained that petitions challenging state convictions are generally heard in the federal district where the conviction occurred. Solano County is in the Eastern District of California.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley transferred the case to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California in the interest of justice. The clerk was ordered to transfer the matter immediately.
The detailed version
- Lees v. Arce · No. 3:24-cv-08129
- Jacquelyn Corley
- Nov. 25, 2024
Background
Alexander Lees, a California prisoner proceeding without an attorney, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging the validity of his conviction in Solano County Superior Court.
Court’s reasoning
The court explained that federal law allows a state-prisoner’s petition challenging a conviction to be filed in either the federal district where the prisoner is confined or the federal district where the conviction occurred. The court stated that federal courts in California traditionally hear challenges to a conviction or sentence in the district where the conviction occurred. Solano County is within the Eastern District of California.
Ruling
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ordered the case transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California in the interest of justice. The clerk was directed to transfer the matter immediately.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.