Lewis v. The People of the State of California Superior Court for the County of…
Lewis v. The People of the State of California Superior Court for the County of San Joaquin
- Sallie Kim
- 3:22-cv-04205
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 1
In Lewis v. The People of California, Judge Kim transferred Lewis’s federal habeas petition to the Eastern District of California because the conviction arose there.
Joel Ladon Lewis’s federal habeas petition was transferred from the Northern District of California to the Eastern District of California; the court did not decide the petition’s merits.
What happened
In Lewis v. The People of the State of California Superior Court for the County of San Joaquin, Joel Ladon Lewis sought federal review of a conviction from the San Joaquin County Superior Court.
The Northern District of California explained that federal law allows a habeas case to be heard where the person is confined or where the conviction occurred. Because the conviction occurred in San Joaquin County, the court transferred the petition to the Eastern District of California, without deciding the petition’s merits.
Judge Sallie Kim ordered the clerk to transfer the matter promptly to that court.
The detailed version
- Lewis v. The People of the State of California Superior Court for the County of… · No. 3:22-cv-04205
- Sallie Kim
- July 22, 2022
Background
Joel Ladon Lewis sought federal habeas review of a conviction from the San Joaquin County Superior Court. The opinion states that Lewis was incarcerated at Salinas Valley State Prison in Monterey County.
Venue analysis
The conviction court is in San Joaquin County, which is within the Eastern District of California. Lewis’s place of confinement is in Monterey County, which is within the Northern District of California. The court explained that federal law permits a habeas petition to be filed in either the district where the person is confined or the district where the conviction occurred. It also explained that petitions challenging a conviction, rather than the execution of a sentence, are preferably heard in the district of conviction.
Ruling
The court ordered that the petition be transferred to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a) and the applicable habeas local rule. The clerk was ordered to transfer the matter forthwith. The opinion does not address the merits of Lewis’s conviction or habeas claims. Judge Sallie Kim signed the order as a United States Magistrate Judge.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.