Coates v. Governor of California
- Susan Van Keulen
- 5:20-cv-07781
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Coates v. Governor of California, Judge Van Keulen transferred Coates’s state-conviction challenge to the Central District because Riverside County was the conviction district.
Gregory C. Coates’s federal challenge to his state conviction was transferred from the Northern District of California to the Central District of California, Eastern Division; the named respondent is the Governor of California.
What happened
Gregory C. Coates filed a federal petition challenging his state conviction from Riverside County Superior Court. The named respondent is the Governor of California.
Coates was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison. The court explained that a state-prisoner challenge may be heard where the prisoner is confined or where the conviction occurred, but that conviction challenges are preferably heard in the district of conviction.
The court transferred the case to the Eastern Division of the Central District of California, terminated all pending motions, and ordered the file transferred. Judge Susan Van Keulen did not decide the challenge to Coates’s conviction.
The detailed version
- Coates v. Governor of California · No. 5:20-cv-07781
- Susan Van Keulen
- Dec. 2, 2020
Background
Gregory C. Coates, identified as a state prisoner at San Quentin State Prison, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging a state conviction from the Superior Court of Riverside County. The respondent is the Governor of California.
Venue analysis
The court stated that venue for a state-prisoner challenge may be proper in either the federal district where the prisoner is confined or the district where the conviction occurred. It also stated that petitions challenging a conviction or sentence are preferably heard in the district of conviction. Because Coates challenged a conviction from Riverside County, the court identified the Central District of California, Eastern Division, as the district of conviction.
Disposition
The court transferred the case to the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division, under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). The clerk was ordered to terminate all pending motions and transfer the entire file. The order did not reach the merits of Coates’s challenge to his conviction. Judge Susan Van Keulen signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.