Opinion
01-22-2015
In the Matter of Eric CASEY, Petitioner, v. Albert PRACK, as Director of Special Housing and Inmate Disciplinary Programs, Respondent.
Eric Casey, New York City, petitioner pro se. Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Peter H. Schiff of counsel), for respondent.
Eric Casey, New York City, petitioner pro se.
Eric T. Schneiderman, Attorney General, Albany (Peter H. Schiff of counsel), for respondent.
Before: PETERS, P.J., LAHTINEN, EGAN Jr., LYNCH and DEVINE, JJ.
Opinion Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this Court by order of the Supreme Court, entered in Washington County) to review a determination of the Commissioner of Corrections and Community Supervision which found petitioner guilty of violating certain prison disciplinary rules.
A correction officer observed petitioner, a prison inmate, retrieve an unknown item from a cell. After the officer ordered petitioner to submit to a pat frisk, petitioner attacked the officer and had to be forcibly subdued. Petitioner was accordingly charged in a misbehavior report with assaulting staff, engaging in violent conduct, refusing a direct order and refusing a pat frisk. Following a tier III disciplinary hearing, he was found guilty as charged. The determination was affirmed upon administrative review, and this CPLR article 78 proceeding ensued.
We confirm. The misbehavior report and related documentation, as well as the testimony of the correction officer who was assaulted, provide substantial evidence to support the determination of guilt (see Matter of Alsaifullah v. Fischer, 118 A.D.3d 1239, 1240, 987 N.Y.S.2d 717 [2014], lv. denied 24 N.Y.3d 906, 2014 WL 5368870 [2014] ; Matter of Quezada v. Fischer, 113 A.D.3d 1004, 1004, 979 N.Y.S.2d 426 [2014] ). Petitioner maintained that he had been assaulted without provocation and that the officer's injuries were fabricated, but his testimony presented credibility issues for the Hearing Officer to resolve (see Matter of Alsaifullah v. Fischer, 118 A.D.3d at 1240, 987 N.Y.S.2d 717 ). Petitioner further contends that documentary evidence and testimony regarding the officer's injuries were relevant and should have been provided “absent a showing that [such evidence] would jeopardize institutional security” (Matter of Wright v. Fischer, 98 A.D.3d 759, 759–760, 949 N.Y.S.2d 819 [2012] ). Any error that may have occurred in that regard is harmless, however, as those injuries were exhaustively detailed by other documents and hearing testimony in the record (see Matter of Felder v. Fischer, 120 A.D.3d 858, 858, 990 N.Y.S.2d 370 [2014] ; Matter of Martin v. Fischer, 98 A.D.3d 774, 775, 949 N.Y.S.2d 798 [2012] ).
ADJUDGED that the determination is confirmed, without costs, and petition dismissed.