Failure to Determine if Witness Would Testify Required New Hearing

“It is well settled that an inmate has a conditional right to call witnesses at a disciplinary hearing provided their testimony would not jeopardize institutional safety or correctional goals… .  ‘[A] hearing officer’s actual outright denial of a witness without a stated good-faith reason, or lack of any effort to obtain the requested witness’s testimony, constitutes a clear constitutional violation … .  On the other hand, where a good-faith reason for the denial appears on the record, this amounts to a regulatory violation requiring that the matter be remitted for a new hearing…”  Here the hearing officer’s failure to determine whether a retired correction officer could testify required a new hearing.  In the Matter of Morris-Hill v Fischer, 514093, 3rd Dept. 3-7-13