IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 98-30385
USDC No. 97-CV-3435-R
REGINALD J. THOMAS,
Petitioner-Appellant,
versus
STATE OF LOUISIANA;
MICHAEL BENOV, Warden,
Respondents-Appellees.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Louisiana
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August 25, 1998
Before DAVIS, WIENER, and STEWART, Circuit Judges.
BY THE COURT:
Reginald J. Thomas, federal prisoner # 09506-112, seeks a
certificate of appealability (“COA”) from the district court’s
denial of his petition for habeas corpus relief, pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 2254. Because his petition was denied on procedural
grounds rather than on the merits, Thomas must first make a
credible showing that the district court erred. Murphy v.
Johnson, 110 F.3d 10, 11 (5th Cir. 1997). Thomas asserts that
the district court erred in determining that it lacked
O R D E R
No. 98-30385
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jurisdiction over the petition as one brought under § 2254; in
construing his petition as a motion to vacate, set aside, or
correct sentence, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255 and dismissing it
as such; and in denying COA.
Thomas has not demonstrated any error on the district
court’s part. Nevertheless, we grant COA and vacate and remand
to the district court for the purposes of allowing it to consider
in the first instance whether the case should be transferred sua
sponte to the Central District of California as the court of
proper venue in light of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death
Penalty Act’s one-year statute-of-limitations period. See 28
U.S.C. §§ 1406(a) and 2255.
COA GRANTED; VACATED AND REMANDED.