UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO WESTERN DIVISION

Jared T. Ferguson, Case No. 3:23-cv-0238

Petitioner

v. ORDER OF TRANSFER

Warden Harold May,

Respondent

Pro se Petitioner, Jared T. Ferguson, an inmate in state custody at the Marion Correctional Institution (“MCI”) in Marion, Ohio, brings this action for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to

to challenge his 2020 conviction in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas on charges of murder and tampering with evidence. Franklin County is within Ohio’s southern federal judicial district. MCI is located within Ohio’s northern federal judicial district. Because Petitioner challenges the conviction of a state court within the southern district of Ohio but is in custody in the northern district of Ohio, both districts have concurrent jurisdiction over the action.

(d). I have the discretion to transfer this action to the southern district for hearing and determination.

A transfer to the southern district is appropriate in this case, because it is the more convenient forum and the evidence is more readily accessible in the district where Petitioner was convicted. See Bell v. Watkins,

(5th Cir. 1982), cert. denied,

(1983); Braden v. 30th Judicial Circuit Court of Ky.,

, 497 n.13 (1973). Accordingly, this action is TRANSFERRED to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio (Columbus).

So Ordered.

s/ Jeffrey J. Helmick United States District Judge