From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Matter of Martinez v. Leonardo

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department
May 18, 2000
272 A.D.2d 736 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)

Opinion

May 18, 2000.

Proceeding pursuant to CPLR article 78 (transferred to this court by order of the Supreme Court, entered in Greene County) to review a determination of respondent which found petitioner guilty of violating a prison disciplinary rule.

Luis Martinez, Coxsackie, petitioner in person.

Eliot Spitzer, Attorney-General (Wayne L. Benjamin of counsel), Albany, for respondent.

Before: MERCURE, J.P., PETERS, GRAFFEO, ROSE and LAHTINEN, JJ.


MEMORANDUM AND JUDGMENT

Following a tier II disciplinary hearing, petitioner, a prison inmate, was found guilty of violating the prison disciplinary rule that prohibits inmates from possessing or making alcoholic beverages. According to the misbehavior report, during the course of petitioner's testimony on behalf of another inmate at a prison disciplinary hearing, petitioner admitted making an alcoholic beverage out of orange juice and then placing the container outside the cube of the other inmate. Based upon this admission, a misbehavior report was issued to petitioner charging him with violating the subject rule. In our view, the misbehavior report provides substantial evidence of petitioner's guilt (see,Matter of Foster v. Coughlin, 76 N.Y.2d 964, 966). Although petitioner recanted his admission at his own disciplinary hearing and claimed that he had been coerced into incriminating himself, he refused to provide any corroborating details and the Hearing Officer was entitled to reject petitioner's explanation as incredible (see, Matter of De La Rosa v. Portuondo, 247 A.D.2d 810, 811). Petitioner's remaining contentions have been examined and found to be similarly unpersuasive.

Mercure, J.P., Peters, Graffeo, Rose and Lahtinen, JJ., concur.

ADJUDGED that the determination is confirmed, without costs, and petition dismissed.


Summaries of

Matter of Martinez v. Leonardo

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department
May 18, 2000
272 A.D.2d 736 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)
Case details for

Matter of Martinez v. Leonardo

Case Details

Full title:IN THE MATTER OF LUIS MARTINEZ, Petitioner v. ARTHUR A. LEONARDO, as…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, Third Department

Date published: May 18, 2000

Citations

272 A.D.2d 736 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000)
707 N.Y.S.2d 550

Citing Cases

In the Matter of Rivera v. Goord

Substantial evidence of petitioner's guilt was presented at his disciplinary hearing in the form of the…