Breiner v. Pollard
- Nathanael Cousins
- 5:21-cv-03762
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Breiner v. Pollard, Judge Cousins transferred the conviction challenge to the Eastern District of California.
Jack Lee Breiner's challenge to his state conviction was transferred from the Northern District of California to the Eastern District of California; the order also terminated all pending motions.
What happened
In Breiner v. Pollard, Jack Lee Breiner, a state prisoner at R.J. Donovan State Prison, challenged a state conviction from Modoc County.
The court explained that the case could be heard where Breiner was imprisoned or where he was convicted, but that conviction challenges are generally heard in the conviction district.
Judge Cousins transferred the case to the Eastern District of California, terminated all pending motions, and ordered the entire file transferred; he did not decide the conviction challenge.
The detailed version
- Breiner v. Pollard · No. 5:21-cv-03762
- Nathanael Cousins
- June 11, 2021
Background
Jack Lee Breiner, a state prisoner at R.J. Donovan State Prison in San Diego, filed a petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 challenging his state conviction from the Superior Court of Modoc County.
Venue
The court explained that a challenge to a state conviction may be heard in either the federal district where the prisoner is confined or the district where the conviction occurred. The court stated that petitions challenging a conviction or sentence are preferably heard in the district of conviction. Because Breiner challenged a conviction from Modoc County, the Eastern District of California was the district of conviction.
Ruling
Judge Nathanael M. Cousins ordered that the case be transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). The clerk was directed to terminate all pending motions and transfer the entire case file. The order did not decide the substance of Breiner's challenge to his conviction.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.