Harris v. Lowe
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-07710
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Harris v. Lowe, Judge Swain transferred Harris’s detention challenge to Pennsylvania because she was held there, without deciding her claims.
Keeba Scott Harris; the respondents named in the petition; and the federal courts handling the transferred case.
What happened
In Harris v. Lowe, Keeba Scott Harris, who was detained in Pike County, Pennsylvania, challenged her pending criminal proceedings in a petition asking for release from unlawful detention. She argued, among other things, that her speedy-trial right had been violated and that the prosecutor lacked authority because the alleged acts occurred on tribal lands.
The Southern District of New York transferred the petition to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. The court explained that a detention challenge generally must be heard where the person is confined, and Harris was confined in Pike County. The court did not decide whether her claims were valid.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Clerk to transfer the case and closed it in the Southern District of New York. The Pennsylvania court will decide whether Harris may proceed without paying the filing fee, and the court denied fee-free status for any appeal from the transfer order.
The detailed version
- Harris v. Lowe · No. 1:22-cv-07710
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 12, 2022
Background
Keeba Scott Harris filed a pro se petition under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, a federal procedure for challenging present detention. The opinion states that she was detained at Pike County Correctional Facility in Lords Valley, Pennsylvania, and that she was not yet subject to a state-court judgment. She challenged criminal proceedings pending in the Court of Common Pleas of Pike County. Her stated grounds included an alleged speedy-trial violation and an argument that the prosecutor lacked jurisdiction because the alleged acts occurred on tribal lands.
Transfer Decision
The court held that a court hearing a detention challenge under Section 2241 must have jurisdiction over the person or entity holding the petitioner. Such petitions generally belong in the federal district where the petitioner is confined. Because Harris was detained in Pike County, which the opinion says is in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the court transferred the petition there in the interest of justice under 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a).
The court did not reach the merits of Harris’s speedy-trial, tribal-lands, or other challenges. It also did not decide whether she should be allowed to proceed without paying the filing fee; the court left that question for the transferee court. The opinion notes that Harris had not paid the $5 filing fee or submitted an application to proceed without paying it.
Disposition
The Clerk was directed to transfer the action to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and the order closed the case in the Southern District of New York. The court certified that an appeal would not be taken in good faith and denied Harris permission to appeal without paying fees. Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.