HEARING OFFICER’S REFUSAL WITHOUT EXPLANATION TO CALL A WITNESS TO THE INCIDENT REQUIRED ANNULMENT AND EXPUNGEMENT.
The Third Department, annulling the misbehavior determination, found the hearing officer’s refusal without explanation to call a witness to the confrontation between petitioner and guards to be a constitutional violation:
“An inmate has a right to call witnesses at a disciplinary hearing so long as the testimony is not immaterial or redundant and poses no threat to institutional safety or correctional goals”… . This report indicated that, without provocation, petitioner punched the officer conducting the frisk in the eye. Petitioner maintained that he did not assault either officer, that the officer conducting the frisk was the aggressor, grabbing petitioner’s genitals during the frisk and punching him, and that both officers attacked him in retaliation for him filing a grievance against a fellow officer. The requested witness submitted a memorandum to his superior on the day of the incident stating that he observed the frisk, that petitioner turned off the wall and that a struggle ensued with the correction officer. According to the memorandum, the officer called for a response team and, by the time the team arrived, both petitioner and the officer involved in the altercation were inside of petitioner’s cell and out of his sight. Following the initial request for this witness at the hearing, the Hearing Officer stated that he would address the request later. Petitioner clearly requested testimony from this witness a second time and the Hearing Officer did not respond. The Hearing Officer subsequently closed the hearing without calling the witness and without providing a reason for not calling him. Matter of Reyes v Keyser, 2017 NY Slip Op 04007, 3rd Dept 5-18-17
DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS (INMATES) (HEARING OFFICER’S REFUSAL WITHOUT EXPLANATION TO CALL A WITNESS TO THE INCIDENT REQUIRED ANNULMENT AND EXPUNGEMENT)