Lagoa v. Miller
- Edgardo Ramos
- 1:25-cv-09895
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Felix Lagoa v. Mark Miller, Judge Ramos transferred the habeas case to the Eastern District of New York without deciding the conviction challenge.
Felix Lagoa's federal challenge to his 2013 Kings County conviction was transferred from the Southern District of New York to the Eastern District of New York; the merits were not decided.
What happened
Felix Lagoa, who is incarcerated and representing himself, challenged his 2013 New York conviction in Felix Lagoa v. Mark Miller. He filed the case in the Southern District of New York under a federal law allowing challenges to state convictions.
The court said that such a case must be filed in the federal district where the person was convicted and sentenced. Because Lagoa was convicted and sentenced in Kings County, the court transferred the case to the Eastern District of New York without addressing whether his conviction was constitutional.
Judge Edgardo Ramos directed the clerk to transfer the case, closed it in the Southern District of New York, and left any decision about proceeding without paying filing fees to the Eastern District. The judge also declined to issue a certificate of appealability and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
The detailed version
- Lagoa v. Miller · No. 1:25-cv-09895
- Edgardo Ramos
- Dec. 2, 2025
Background
Felix Lagoa, who is incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility and is proceeding without a lawyer, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging the constitutionality of his 2013 conviction in the New York Supreme Court, Kings County.
The opinion notes that Lagoa had filed an earlier related petition in the Eastern District of New York, which was dismissed without prejudice. The earlier proceeding is identified as No. 20-CV-06069 (E.D.N.Y.).
Venue and Transfer
Local Civil Rule 83.3 requires a state habeas petition brought by a person under a New York state-court judgment and sentence to be filed, heard, and decided in the federal district where the person was convicted and sentenced. Because Kings County is in the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of New York transferred this action to that district.
The court did not decide the merits of Lagoa's constitutional challenge. It also stated that the Eastern District of New York would decide whether Lagoa could proceed without paying fees.
Disposition
The court directed the clerk to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and closed the case in the Southern District of New York. The court determined that Lagoa had not made the required substantial showing of the denial of a constitutional right, so it did not issue a certificate of appealability. It also certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without paying fees.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.