The Third Department concluded the nature of the confidential information provided to the hearing officer and the hearing officer’s failure to adequately inquire into the reliability of the information required annulment of the determination:
Here, the confidential information considered by the Hearing Officer consisted of, among other things, memoranda prepared by correction officials that briefly summarized their interviews with three confidential sources who stated, in conclusory fashion, that petitioner was the individual who broke the window. In addition, a memorandum and photo array identification were provided by one of the confidential sources, but were similarly lacking in detail. The Hearing Officer also considered the confidential testimony of the two correction officials who spoke directly with the confidential sources. The officials related that the sources identified petitioner as the individual who broke the window, but did not reveal any specific information regarding the basis of their knowledge. Significantly, there is no indication that the sources actually witnessed petitioner break the window nor any explanation as to how they acquired this information. In addition, the correction officials who interviewed them did not provide any endorsement of their reliability other than to state that they freely provided the information and were not coerced. Under these circumstances, we conclude that the Hearing Officer failed to undertake the requisite independent assessment of the confidential information to establish its reliability … . Matter of Belliard v New York State Dept. of Corr., 2016 NY Slip Op 07382, 3rd Dept 11-10-16
DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS (INMATES) (HEARING OFFICER DID NOT MAKE AN ADEQUATE INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND RELIABILITY OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, DETERMINATION ANNULLED)/EVIDENCE (INMATE DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS, HEARING OFFICER DID NOT MAKE AN ADEQUATE INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE AND RELIABILITY OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION, DETERMINATION ANNULLED)