People ex rel. Gonzales v. Dalsheim

417 N.E.2d 493, 52 N.Y.2d 9, 436 N.Y.S.2d 199, 1980 N.Y. LEXIS 2826
CourtNew York Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 22, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by80 cases

This text of 417 N.E.2d 493 (People ex rel. Gonzales v. Dalsheim) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People ex rel. Gonzales v. Dalsheim, 417 N.E.2d 493, 52 N.Y.2d 9, 436 N.Y.S.2d 199, 1980 N.Y. LEXIS 2826 (N.Y. 1980).

Opinions

[12]*12OPINION OF THE COURT

Jones, J.

A parolee is entitled to a prompt final parole revocation hearing notwithstanding the circumstance that he is in the physical custody of the authorities of a sister State unless the Board of Parole shows that such a hearing cannot be held subject to its convenience and practical control.

In December, 1973 relator was sentenced in Supreme Court, Bronx County, to an indeterminate sentence having a maximum term of eight years. On December 23, 1976 he was paroled to New Jersey on a parole violation warrant issued by that State against him. He remained incarcerated in New Jersey until he was paroled in that State on April 18, 1977. Following his release, the New Jersey authorities also agreed to supervise his New York parole pursuant to the provisions of the Uniform Act for Out-of-State Parolee Supervision (Executive Law, § 259-m et seq.-, NJ Stat Ann, § 2A: 168-14 et seq.).

On May 8, 1978 relator was arrested in New Jersey on various charges and remained in custody in lieu of $125,000 bail. He was interviewed on May 31, 1978 at the Passaic County Jail by a New Jersey parole officer who prepared an arrest report dated June 5, 1978, a copy of which was forwarded to the New York authorities. The New-York authorities decided not to issue a parole violation warrant at this time inasmuch as a high bail had been set and because of a request from the New Jersey authorities that New York take no action.

Relator was convicted in the New Jersey courts of statutory rape, desertion and nonsupport and sentenced to State prison. Again a copy of the report prepared by the New Jersey parole officer with respect to these convictions was provided the New York authorities. On December 15, 1978 a New York parole violation warrant was issued and lodged against relator as a detainer. A commissioner of the New York State Board of Parole reviewed relator’s case on December 26,1978 and declared him delinquent as of April 10, 1978.

When relator’s New Jersey imprisonment ended on March 1, 1979 the New Jersey parole authorities trans[13]*13ferred him forthwith to New York. A preliminary parole revocation hearing was held on March 16, 1979 at Biker’s Island, and a final revocation hearing was held on May 28, 1979 at which time relator’s parole was revoked.

In August, 1979 relator instituted the present proceeding for a writ of habeas corpus, contending that he had been denied his right to prompt parole revocation hearings. Special Term dismissed his petition, stating that relator’s entitlement to hearings did not accrue until he was released from New Jersey and that on that basis the hearings were timely held. The Appellate Division affirmed, two Justices dissenting. The majority concluded that, although the New York parole violation warrant was executed on December 15,1978, it was not until March 1,1979, when he was transferred from New Jersey to New York, that relator was “subject to the convenience and practical control of the Parole Board” (People ex rel. Walsh v Vincent, 40 NY2d 1049, 1050). The dissenting Justices disagreed with this latter conclusion and would have computed relator’s entitlement from December 15,1978. Inasmuch as there was no showing here by the Parole Board that relator was not subject to the “convenience and practical control” of the board although he was physically in the custody of the New Jersey authorities in the period from December 15,1978 to March 1,1979, there must be a reversal.

We start with the legislative mandate that a preliminary revocation hearing must be held within 15 days after the execution of the parole revocation warrant (Executive Law, § 259-i, subd 3, par [c], cl [i]) and that the final revocation hearing must be held within 90 days of the preliminary hearing (par [f], cl [i]). The application of these provisions is clear if the parolee is in custody in a facility within the jurisdiction of our State’s Parole Board. Problems of computation of the statutory time schedule have been seen to arise, however, when the -parolee is in custody but not within the jurisdiction of the Parole Board.

We first held that the right of the parolee to prompt revocation hearings was not diminished because he was being held on an unrelated criminal charge in an institution over which the Parole Board had jurisdiction, albeit the deten[14]*14tion there was only temporary and the parolee was held as a local prisoner (Matter of Beattie v New York State Bd. of Parole, 39 NY2d 445). Next we held that the right to prompt revocation hearings was not suspended because the parolee was lodged, not in an institution under the jurisdiction of the Parole Board, but in a local correctional facility. The criterion we again said was whether the parolee was “subject to the convenience and the practical control of the Parole Board” (People ex rel. Walsh v Vincent, 40 NY2d 1049, 1050, supra). We wrote in that case, “In the absence of a showing by the correctional or parole authorities that a particular local facility in the State is, for strong practical reasons, beyond its convenience and control, a situation difficult to bring to mind, a parolee is entitled to a prompt final parole revocation hearing” (id.).1 We declined to follow the rule announced in Moody v Daggett (429 US 78) that a Federal parolee convicted of a Federal offense committed while on parole is not entitled to a prompt parole revocation hearing until he has been taken into custody as a parole violator at the expiration of the intervening sentence.2

We turn, then, to apply to this case the principles declared in Walsh, namely, that a parolee is entitled to prompt revocation hearings if he is “subject to the convenience and practical control of the Parole Board”, and that the burden of showing that the parolee is “beyond its convenience and control” lies with the Parole Board. In view of the relative ease of interstate communication and transportation and the vitality of legal and practical interstate co-operation today we perceive no sufficient justification for laying down a per se rule that imprisonment in a sister State means [15]*15necessarily and always that the imprisoned parolee is not subject to the convenience and control of New York State parole authorities. The out-of-State aspect of such a situation, of course, will bear directly and significantly on the necessary showing to be made by the parole authorities; the determination, however, must necessarily depend on the circumstances of the individual case. Evidence of the reluctance or unwillingness of the correctional authorities in the sister State to co-operate in making appropriate provision for a suitable hearing or a demonstration that the hearing should be held within the State of New York and that, notwithstanding the co-operation of the authorities of the sister State, significant practical difficulty would be encountered in arranging for the presence of the parolee at such a hearing would suffice to meet the modest burden placed on the New York State parole authorities.

In the present case, no showing has been made by the Parole Board beyond submission of proof that relator was incarcerated in the State of New Jersey during the period December 15, 1978 to March 1, 1979 and of speculative arguments which could be advanced in every instance of out-of-State imprisonment.

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Bluebook (online)
417 N.E.2d 493, 52 N.Y.2d 9, 436 N.Y.S.2d 199, 1980 N.Y. LEXIS 2826, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-gonzales-v-dalsheim-ny-1980.