Combs v. Taylor

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI EASTERN DIVISION WALTER COMBS, ) ) Petitioner, ) ) v. ) Case No. 4:25-CV-1550-ZMB ) UNKNOWN TAYLOR and ) A.W. HENSLY, ) ) Respondents. ) MEMORANDUM AND ORDER OF TRANSFER Before the Court is self-represented Petitioner Walter Combs’s Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus Under 28 U.S.C. § 2241. Doc. 1. Upon review, the Court finds that it lacks jurisdiction and transfers the case to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Combs, a federal inmate, brings this action pursuant to section 2241, challenging the computation of his sentence. This Court sentenced Combs in 2015. See United States v. Combs, No. 4:13-CR-391-JAR-2 (E.D. Mo. Mar. 5, 2015). However, he is currently imprisoned at FCI Manchester, which is located in Clay County, Kentucky, in the Eastern District of Kentucky. Doc. 1 ¶ 2; 28 U.S.C. § 97(a). Jurisdiction over a petition for writ of habeas corpus brought under section 2241 lies either in the district of Combs’s physical confinement or in the district where the custodian responsible for his confinement is located. See McCoy v. United States Bd. of Parole, 537 F.2d 962, 964 (8th Cir. 1976). In this case, both are located in the Eastern District of Kentucky. Doc. 1 ¶¶ 2, 6. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1631, a district court lacking jurisdiction over a civil action may, in the interest of justice, transfer the action to the Court in which it could have been brought at the time it was filed. Upon transfer, the action proceeds as if it had been originally filed in the transferee court. See 28 U.S.C. § 1631. The Court finds it in the interest of justice to transfer this case. Accordingly, the Court transfers this action to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. So ordered this 29th day of October 2025. ZACHARY M. BLUESTONE UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE